GAA18CA519 · Cessna 150 M
Cessna 150 M · Accident: loss of engine power (total) on approach
From Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE) to Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE)
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA18CA519
- 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
Cessna 150 M
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 150
- 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
- N45586
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE), Everett, WATo Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE), Everett, WA
- Aircraft age
- About 43 years (built 1975)
- 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
- Loss of engine power (total)
- 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
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that, during final approach, the engine sputtered and then lost all power. The airplane landed short of the runway on the threshold, and the nose landing gear collapsed.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the engine truss and mount.
Postaccident examination by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed no evidence of preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. A photograph provided by the inspector showed no damage to the propeller, which is consistent with the engine not producing power at the time of impact. The inspector reported that fuel was present in the tanks, that the gascolator screen was found clear of debris, and that he suspected carburetor ice was responsible for the loss of engine power.
The airport's automated weather observation station reported that, about the time of the accident, the wind was from 310° at 7 knots, the temperature was 72°F, and the dew point was 48°F. The atmospheric conditions were favorable for serious carburetor icing at descent power setting.
Probable cause
A total loss of engine power due to carburetor icing during final approach, which resulted in a hard landing short of the runway and the nose landing gear collapsing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA18CA519
- Event ID
- 20180830X35508
- Case number
- GAA18CA519
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2018-07-22.
- API snapshot SHA-256: eec986f57775c961ee89da35f7139fd6410d7543afd5f3f688733fb9b02e87d6; retrieved 2026-09-16T08:10:45.881Z.