FERACA EDWARD M SEAREY LSX — Logan, UT

What happened

The pilot and his son had recently purchased the airplane; they picked it up the day before the accident and flew it to their home airport. On the day of the accident, the pilot’s son invited him to fly over a house where he would be attending a barbeque. Witnesses observed the airplane approach the house flying low (estimates were between 100 and 700 ft agl) and slow (between 40 and 60 knots).

The pilot waved as he flew past the house, and then turned the airplane to the right, which was toward rising terrain. The witness noted that the turn was “tight,” similar to how the pilot flew another airplane he owned, which was reported to be higher performance than the accident airplane. As the airplane was turning, the right wing dropped. The wings then leveled, followed by the left wing dropping. The witness observed the wings level again, heard the engine increase in power, and observed the nose pitch up. The airplane began to climb and struck a neighboring house while in a nose-high attitude. The airplane came to rest in the attic section of the house.

A postaccident examination of the engine revealed that both carburetors were excessively fuelstained on their exteriors, and the rubber flange assemblies, located between the carburetors and the aluminum intakes, were torn. The carburetor for cylinder Nos. 1 and 3 contained a black substance that stuck to the bottom of the bowl. Examination of the spark plugs revealed they were not correct for the engine application, and they were not gapped in accordance with engine manufacturer specifications. Additionally, the electrodes appeared worn.

The combination of fuel staining on the carburetors, incorrect sparkplugs with incorrect gaps, and the torn rubber flange assemblies could have led to a loss of performance and/or a loss of engine power during the accident flight. Although one witness reported hearing an increase in power during the accident sequence, it is unknown whether the engine was operating at full power before or after this observation.

As the pilot banked the airplane after maneuvering around the house, it is likely that he made a tight turn to avoid the terrain, which precipitated a loss of control. He also may have been expecting the airplane to respond faster, similar to another airplane he owned. As the airplane was already at a low altitude and slow speed, there was limited time for him to fully recover the airplane.

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