CEN23LA226 · Temco GC-1B

The pilot was enroute to a private grass airstrip to practice touch-and-go landings. A witness observed the airplane approach the airstrip about 300 ft. The airplane was in a shallow left turn and the engine was running rough. He said that the engine lost and regained rpms about four times before it stopped running. The airplane appeared to be flying slowly. Seconds later, the witness heard the airplane make a sudden and audible contact with the ground, and he went immediately to the accident site. The airplane was lying upright in a vegetated field with the forward part of the fuselage and wings substantially damaged. The pilot told the witness that all he could remember was that the engine was running rough and that he was trying to correct the problem. The pilot said that he thought that he had carburetor ice, so he applied carburetor heat, but the engine roughness got worse. Examination of the airframe, flight controls, fuel system, and the engine, did not reveal any pre-impact anomalies that would have precluded normal operations. The airplane was being operated in weather conditions conducive to serious carburetor icing at glide power. Based on the pilot’s and the witness’s recollection of the event and the weather conditions, the loss of engine power was most likely the result of carburetor icing due to the pilot’s delayed application of carburetor heat.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset