CHAMPION AERONCA 7AC — Bridgeton, NJ

What happened

The pilot and pilot-rated passenger were departing on a local personal flight. Witnesses stated that the as the airplane departed the engine did not sound like it was creating full power. During the initial climb, the airplane briefly climbed at a steep angle then turned left, descended, and impacted the ground about 500 ft from the departure end of the runway. Postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of preimpact mechanical anomalies that would have prevented normal engine operation. Given the witness statements, and the findings of the postaccident engine examination, it could not be determined whether there was a partial loss of engine power during the takeoff.

Nevertheless, the conditions about the time of the accident, given the temperature and dew point, were favorable for serious carburetor icing at a glide power setting. Given this information, it is possible that during the ground operation, when the engine would typically be operating at low power, carburetor ice formed. This could have resulted in at least a partial loss of engine power during the initial climb. The available evidence for this investigation did not indicate whether or not the pilot applied carburetor heat before or during the flight.

The witness reports of the airplane briefly climbing at a steep angle, the video showing the airplane in a steep descending left turn, as well as the signatures observed on the wreckage (aft crushing of the forward portion of the fuselage, the relatively uniform aft crush damage on the leading edges of both wings, and damage consistent with a relatively low energy state at the time of impact) were all consistent with the airplane encountering an aerodynamic stall before it impacted the ground. Given that there were no anomalies observed with the airplane’s flight controls during the postaccident wreckage examination, it is likely that the pilot exceeded the airplane’s critical angle of attack at an altitude too low to recover, which resulted in the subsequent loss of control and impact with terrain.

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