History of Flight
On March 30, 2019, about 1256 Pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-18-105 airplane, registration N215T, was destroyed in an accident near Copalis Beach, Washington. The pilot, who sustained minor injuries, was operating the personal flight under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.
According to the pilot, the preflight inspection, start-up, taxi out, and takeoff were normal. Approximately 70 minutes into the cross-country flight, the engine began running rough and losing power. The pilot activated the carburetor heat and manipulated the throttle, but engine operation did not improve, and he could not restore cruise power. The airplane was at an altitude of 2,000 ft, and the pilot reported he did not have time or altitude to glide to a nearby airport. He executed an emergency landing on a logging road in a clearcut forest area.
During the landing roll, the left wing struck stumps before the aircraft came to rest in a nose-down attitude. The pilot observed fuel pouring into the cockpit from the left side. He exited the airplane and hiked out to find help. He reported the accident two days later, and by the time first responders arrived, the airplane had been consumed by a post-impact fire. The pilot noted that the airplane was susceptible to carburetor icing and that he had used carburetor heat on several recent flights.
The pilot later stated that altitude began decreasing as soon as the engine ran rough, and he turned toward the logging road as soon as he saw the loss of power and altitude. He estimated only a few minutes elapsed between power loss and landing. When asked about his approach, the pilot reported he still had enough power to circle while losing altitude and aimed for the gravel road, which he considered his best option.
Meteorological Information
According to the icing probability chart in FAA Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (CE-09-35) – Carburetor Icing Prevention, weather conditions were conducive to “Serious Icing – Cruise Power.”
Wreckage and Impact Information
The airplane came to rest about 20 ft from the side of the logging road, in a clutter of various-sized cut tree branches and stumps. It was upright, pitched nose down, with its tail about 6 ft off the ground. The fabric skin, tires, and most interior components were consumed or significantly damaged by fire. The cockpit was destroyed, and the left wing was canted forward about 85°. Portions of the forward fuselage frame were impact damaged. The engine remained attached and enclosed by the aluminum cowl, both sustained fire damage. The two-bladed aluminum propeller remained attached, and the spinner was undamaged.
Both propeller blades exhibited moderate twisting and bending deformation on their outboard half-spans. The outboard end of one blade was embedded into the top of a previously cut tree stump but still attached. That blade end was bent tip-aft, and the cut displayed similar curvature. The stump also bore a linear cut about 10 inches behind the embedded blade, consistent with another blade strike.
Examination revealed the engine was fire and impact damaged but showed no exterior non-impact damage. Top spark plugs were removed and displayed no mechanical failure or excessive wear. Manual rotation produced thumb compressions on all cylinders. Engine control cables remained connected, but operability was impeded by impact and fire damage. Fire damage to accessories, including magnetos and fuel system components like the carburetor, prevented determination of their pre-accident condition and functionality. Fire and impact damage also prevented determination of the engine's pre-accident condition and functionality.
Additional Information
Based on Google Earth imagery, the logging road selected as the intended landing site was in a forest clearing roughly circular with a diameter of about 2,300 ft. The road bisected the clearing on a true heading of about 290°, parallel to the airplane's cruise flight track.
The flight track was south of the clearing, and at the point abeam the eastern edge, it was about the same distance north of a straight 12,000 ft segment of a two-lane paved road oriented on a true heading of about 270°. The center of the clearing was about 13,000 ft from the linear shoreline, oriented approximately perpendicular to the flight track. The shoreline was a sandy beach about 600 ft wide extending at least 5 miles north and south. The pilot's destination airport, S16, was on that same shoreline about 4 miles north of where the flight track would have intersected the shoreline if the pilot had not turned toward the clearing.
In its landing circuit for the clearing, the airplane traveled about 16,000 ft from the point where it began descent and turn from cruise flight to the last recorded data point. From that same top-of-descent point, before the turn, the airplane was about 12,000 ft from and headed almost directly toward the shoreline and beach.