GAA18CA038 · Piper PA28 140
Piper PA28 140 · Accident: fuel related on approach
From Butler Co Regional Airport - Hogan Field (HAO) to Clermont County Airport (I69)
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA18CA038
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Piper PA28 140
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA28
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N98299
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Butler Co Regional Airport - Hogan Field (HAO), Hamilton, OHTo Clermont County Airport (I69), Batavia, OH
- Aircraft age
- About 48 years (built 1969)
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Fuel related
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that the airplane departed with 10 gallons of fuel to practice crosswind landings at a nearby airport. He added that, about 1 hour later and during an approach, he was aiming to land on the runway numbers. He reported that, shortly before flying over the airport perimeter fence, "either wind shear or [a] sudden downdraft dropped the plane." The nose landing gear struck the fence, and the airplane impacted the ground short of the intended runway.
In a followup interview with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge, the pilot reported that, during approach, the engine was running the entire time without issues. He added that, once he encountered the downdraft, he applied full power, but the airplane continued descending with "no appreciable response." He reported that he did not use carburetor heat during the approach.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and horizontal stabilator.
The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
A review of recorded data from the automated weather observation station located on the airport revealed that, about the time of the accident, the wind was from 210° at 8 knots, visibility 10 statute miles, clouds overcast at 1,100 ft, temperature 68°F, dew point 63°F, and altimeter 29.96 inches of mercury. The airplane was landing on runway 22.
Review of the Federal Aviation Administration Carburetor Icing Chart for the given temperature and dew point revealed that the conditions were conducive to "serious icing (glide power)." (For more information, see Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin CE-09-35 in the public docket.)
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to apply carburetor heat in conditions conducive to carburetor icing, which resulted in a partial loss of engine power during landing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA18CA038
- Event ID
- 20171108X52738
- Case number
- GAA18CA038
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 1d6fa905d929bea022d19e1ef21cbf8f94650c98424b2a2d6a0f664f69d77560; retrieved 2026-09-16T05:59:19.861Z.