INCIDENT REPORTS Carb icing or incapacitation?


recalled hearing nothing until the impact which led him to believe that the engine either had not been running or had been running quietly. A third witness heard the sound of


DRAGON CHASER MICROLIGHT Pitsford Water, 31 October, 2015


A Dragon Chaser is the combination of a Dragonfly trike and a Chaser 2 sail, falling under single-seat deregulation (SSDR). The pilot took off from Northampton/


Sywell at 1445hr. The weather was benign, with light winds, good visibility and no low cloud. Nothing is known of the flight until a number of witnesses saw the aircraft near Pitsford Water. None of them had a long uninterrupted view, but their accounts provided an impression of the final minutes. One witness saw the Dragon Chaser make a sharp left turn and descend “quite steeply” before it passed out of view. A second witness saw it level at about 100ft before it gained a little height and then began to descend, turning left. The descent was constant until, at about “the height of a house”, it steepened. He


Tailwheel troubles


TITAN T-51 MUSTANG Shobdon Airfield, 14 May, 2016


The three-quarter scale replica of the P-51 Mustang was being taxied along a rough grass taxiway to Runway 09 when the pilot felt a small ‘bump’. He stopped and discovered that the tailwheel had collapsed due to failure of a supporting


Check the gear!


EUROPA XS Rayne Hall Farm Airfield, 5 June, 2016


The pilot arrived overhead the airfield from the north-east and joined crosswind


32 CLUED UP Autumn/Winter 2016


link. Earlier in the year the owner had discovered that the aluminium tailwheel spring was bent. He discussed this with the kit manufacturer and thought the


for Runway 09. He heard several partial radio calls on the Safetycom frequency but could not identify the source of any of the transmissions. On final approach, he felt he was high and his speed seemed less stable than usual but he did not go-around. On landing


an aircraft become quieter, probably abruptly, and saw it descending quite steeply before it disappeared behind a tree. A fourth witness heard an engine and looked around to see the aircraft “coming down quite steeply” before it hit the ground. It appeared to be under control and he thought the pilot might have been attempting to land. A fifth witness heard the “loud-ish noise” of the aircraft and saw it “very low”. He described that the engine “feathered” as if the throttle had been closed and the aircraft then “dropped”, with the front wheel of the trike impacting and digging into the ground, after which it somersaulted and came to rest with the pilot fatally injured. There was no evidence of any medical


condition likely to be incapacitating and toxicological testing revealed nothing remarkable. No evidence of a pre-existing structural failure or control problem was found with the aircraft. The weather was suitable for the flight, although the CAA chart showed there was a risk of carburettor icing.


The accounts of engine noise drawing


attention suggest the engine was running at least until a change in tone was heard when it was already low. The reason for the low height could not be determined; it might have been due to a problem with the aircraft, or intentional on the part of the pilot, or some other factor. Descriptions of the engine noise


changing or ceasing suggest the power may have been reduced by the pilot or due to an engine problem. The combination of dew point and temperature indicate that conditions were borderline between ‘serious carburettor icing’ at any power and ‘moderate icing’ at cruise power; ‘serious icing’ might occur at descent power, but carburettor icing leaves no evidence and so no conclusion could be reached. The field in which the aircraft crashed


was suitable for landing, pre-planned or forced, but because the land-owner’s permission hadn’t been sought, intentional seems unlikely. Any landing could have been challenging because the approach would have been almost directly into a low, setting, sun, and on the knoll before a slightly-down-sloping surface. Although the post-mortem examination did not identify any evidence of incapacitation in flight, that possibility could not be ruled out.


manufacturer had advised re-installing the spring upside down. The owner installed the spring upside down and, after landing on 8 April, 2016, the spring failed. A new spring was installed and the


owner carried out an uneventful flight on 16 April 2016. The subsequent flight was the incident


flight on 14 May 2016 when the link failed at a rose joint. The owner has also obtained approval from the Light Aircraft Association to install a modified spring made of steel to reduce the chance of it bending.


the aircraft settled lower than expected, pitched nose-down and slid to a halt. The pilot and passenger were uninjured. The pilot attributed the incident to his


failure to action the before-landing checklist, possibly because he was distracted by the partial radio transmissions.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON INCIDENT REPORTS, VISIT AAIB.GOV.UK


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36