PIPER J3C-65 — Slaughter, LA

What happened

The pilot and pilot-rated passenger were conducting a personal flight. Mud dauber nests were found and removed from the engine compartment before the flight, and no problems were noted with the engine during a subsequent engine run. The pilot stated that he checked the carburetor heat before takeoff. The pilot recalled a normal takeoff until the climbout. While the airplane was in a left turn, he felt the engine “surge” but assumed that the surge was associated with the wind. The pilot recalled turning the airplane toward some trees but did not recall what happened after that.

A witness saw the airplane flying at a low altitude and thought that the airplane was struggling to fly. She stated that the airplane started a turn, and its nose went up, and the airplane then descended nose first into the ground. The witness thought that the engine was not running at the time of the accident.

A postaccident examination revealed substantial damage to the fuselage and left wing. The propeller remained attached to the engine; one propeller blade was straight, and the other blade was bent aft about 20°. Neither blade showed any evidence of chordwise scraping or leading-edge nicks, which was consistent with little or no propeller rotation at impact. The airframe, engine, and magnetos were examined, and no anomalies were noted that would have resulted in a loss of engine power.

Weather conditions at the time of the accident were conducive to carburetor icing at glide power. However, the investigation could not determine whether carburetor icing had accumulated during ground operations before takeoff. The available evidence for this investigation was insufficient to determine why the total loss of engine power occurred.

An editorial "what led to it / how to avoid it" analysis for this accident is generated separately and will appear here.