Piper PA 28-180 N10GJ accident near Carroll, Ohio

Probable cause

The total loss of engine power due to carburetor icing.

NTSB analysis

The private pilot was conducting a personal flight to practice takeoffs and landings. The pilot stated that the airplane's engine lost total power while he was preparing to land. His attempt to restart the engine was unsuccessful. The airplane did not have sufficient altitude to reach the airport, so the pilot performed a forced landing into a field, resulting in substantial damage to the airplane's left wing.

A postaccident examination of the airplane found that it had adequate fuel and that the airplane's electrical and mechanical fuel pumps were capable of delivering fuel. An engine ground run showed that the engine was capable of running.

The temperature and dew point at the time of the accident were favorable for serious carburetor icing at any power setting. The pilot stated that, just before the loss of engine power, he applied carburetor heat in preparation for landing. On the basis of the available evidence, it is likely that the engine lost power after developing carburetor ice and that the application of carburetor heat was ineffective and had possibly exacerbated the problem by introducing hot, less dense air, which could further upset the fuel-air ratio. The pilot might have been unaware of the developing carburetor ice because the formation of ice would reduce rpm but might not result in rough engine operation. Thus, the reduction in rpm could have gone unnoticed given the normal engine power setting changes when the airplane was in the traffic pattern.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN18LA036 for the full record.