31 Jul 2011: ALON A-2A — HOWELL JAN J

31 Jul 2011: ALON A-2A — HOWELL JAN J

No fatalities • Rolfe, IA, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's decision to execute a precautionary landing to unsuitable terrain.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The pilot reported that the engine began to lose power during cruise flight. He applied carburetor heat and engine power was restored. Approximately 5 minutes later, the engine again began to lose power. The pilot applied carburetor heat and the engine power increased; however, the pilot was concerned the engine was not developing full power. He elected to make a precautionary landing on a road, but during the landing approach he noted power lines and a fence bordering the road. The pilot decided the road was not suitable for landing. Concerned that the engine was not performing well enough to execute a go-around, the pilot elected to continue the landing into a nearby cornfield. The airplane contacted the corn crop, a ditch, and a fence during the landing resulting in substantial damage to the wings and firewall. According to the Federal Aviation Administration icing probability chart, with the temperature and dew point, 84 degrees Fahrenheit and 75 degrees Fahrenheit respectively, conditions were conducive for carburetor ice at glide and cruise power.

Contributing factors

  • Effect on equipment
  • cause Pilot
  • Effect on equipment

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 170/05kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.