The pilot was departing on a cross-country flight in the twin-engine Piper PA-23-160. A witness stated that before takeoff, he spent about 20 minutes in the run-up area at the airport in Port Clinton, Ohio.
As the airplane left the runway, witnesses heard a “popping” noise come from the airplane.
The plane struggled to gain altitude, and one witness stated it appeared to have a problem with the left engine. The airplane turned left and descended.
A review of a security camera video showed that the airplane turned left after takeoff, entered a rapid nose-down descent, and hit terrain, killing the pilot.
A small amount of water was found in the left engine’s carburetor, however firefighter response efforts could not be eliminated as a potential source for the water.
Based on the weather conditions at the time of the accident, the airplane was operating in an area associated with a risk of carburetor ice accumulation at glide and cruise power settings, but not at takeoff power settings.
Witness reports and findings from the investigation are consistent with a loss of control following a loss of left engine power, however, the examination of the airframe and engines did not reveal evidence of any preimpact abnormalities.
The NTSB determined the probable cause as the pilot’s loss of control following a loss of left engine power for reasons that could not be determined.
NTSB Identification: CEN15FA088
This December 2014 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
A take-off can be aborted after take-off. In a marginal condition, closing both throttles and pitching down slightly to a glide attitude is often a wise decision. On a short runway you might run off the end but you will not die.
Check the take-off and landing distance charts and put them together, take-off to 50 feet and landing flaps up from 50 feet to get an idea of what is possible.
If you have a 7-10,000 foot runway available, you can [with the help of a CFI-MEL] practice to find out what you can do in your airplane. Unless your airplane is certified for single-engine take-offs, such as a King Air 300, from low alitude, aborting shortly after lift-off might be the best option.
Not prudent to turn into the ‘dead engine’ unless you have plenty of airspeed or are Bob Hoover. Water in the fuel might have been the other problem. But the pilot must have noticed an anomaly during the extended run-up for his holding for so long. Go back to the hangar and look it over.
As the old saying goes, “the remaining engine on a Piper Apache-160 is only good to carry you to the scene of the accident”, if you do everything right.