Sat, Dec 16, 2006
NTSB Says Conditions Conducive To 'Serious Icing'
An NTSB preliminary report on an October 3 Piper PA-24-180
Comanche crash in Hammonton, NJ indicates conditions conducive for
"serious icing at glide power" were present at the time the
aircraft's engine failed.
About 12:30 in the afternoon, 73-year-old Frank Greiner of
Little Egg Harbor Township was on base approaching runway 21 at
Hammonton Municipal Airport when he turned on the auxiliary fuel
pump -- that's when he says the engine quit.
Greiner crash landed in a swampy forest about five miles north
of the airport. The aircraft was substantially damaged, but Greiner
walked away with only minor injuries. A failed attempt by a local
resident and two police officers to retrieve Greiner from the swamp
ended when a Coast Guard crew winched the three would-be
rescuers, as well as Greiner, aboard a helicopter.
Greiner's Comanche was an early model manufactured in the late
1950s. If unmodified, the aircraft would have incorporated a
carburetor with a method of providing heated air to help prevent
the formation of carburetor icing. The report doesn't indicate
whether the plane was so equipped.
The reports notes weather reported at a nearby airport within a
half-hour of the crash indicated winds from 210 degrees true
at 9 knots, temperature 81 degrees Fahrenheit, and dew point 54
degrees Fahrenheit.
The NTSB says it reviewed a carburetor icing probability chart
and found the temperature-dew point readings indicated the
probability of "serious icing at glide power."
FMI: www.ntsb.gov
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