5 Sep 2015: VENUS CP328 SUPER EMERAUDE

5 Sep 2015: VENUS CP328 SUPER EMERAUDE (N328TV) — Unknown operator

No fatalities • PORT WING, WI, United States

Probable cause

The pilot’s undershooting the landing area and the subsequent impact with a hay bale. Also causal to the accident was the operation of the airplane in conditions conducive to carburetor icing, which reduced the engine power during the landing.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On September 5, 2015, about 1015 central daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Venus CP328 Super Emeraude airplane, N328TV, impacted a hay bale and nosed over during landing on a private airstrip near Port Wing, Wisconsin. The private pilot, who was the sole occupant, sustained minor injuries. The fuselage was substantially damaged. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the accident site about the time of the accident, and the flight was not operating on a flight plan. The local flight originated from the airstrip about 1010.According to the pilot's accident report, the overall plan was to fly Young Eagles from a hay field at the annual Port Wing Fall Festival. The field was approximately 2,500 feet long with slightly rolling terrain. The runway's grass was long and wet from rain the night before. The pilot felt that the grass reduced airplane performance and had a 40-foot wide strip mowed on the smooth part of field. The pilot made another takeoff and landing on the recently mowed strip and felt that it took longer to attain flying speed; however, it did not seem unreasonable at the time. There were a few hay bales at the north end of the strip but the pilot felt that they would not be in the way.

The pilot started a subsequent takeoff with a passenger on board and aborted the takeoff due to the way the airplane was accelerating.

After the aborted takeoff, the pilot elected to fly the airplane solo to reduce some fuel weight. During this accident flight, the pilot turned carburetor (carb) heat and the fuel boost pump on. The pilot's report, in part, stated:

Turned to final and felt I was a little low and applied power. Throttle went in, engine continued to run, no roughness or dead cylinder, but there was a definite lack of power. Pulled back slightly to avoid hay bale [at] the end of field and the tail stuck the bale. The plane flipped over and came to rest inverted.

At 1053, the recorded weather at the John F Kennedy Memorial Airport (ASX), near Ashland, Wisconsin, about 124 degrees and 23 miles from the accident site, was: Wind 200 degrees at 4 knots; visibility 10 statute miles; sky condition clear; temperature 27 degrees C; dew point 22 degrees C; altimeter 29.99 inches of mercury.

The temperature and dew point at ASX was plotted on an icing chart. Their intersection was in the serious icing range at glide power.

The pilot indicated that there were no mechanical malfunctions and was "convinced" that carb icing occurred due to "a rather short approach plus the weather that the carb heat did not have time to take care of any residual ice."

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • cause Descent/approach/glide path — Not attained/maintained
  • factor Effect on equipment
  • Contributed to outcome

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 200/04kt, 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.