The pilot reported he had not flown the Glaster in “some time.” He added that, on the day of the accident, he performed a full power run-up and that the airplane “felt normal.”
The takeoff and climbout were normal, however while the plane was at 1,200 feet above ground level, the engine began to lose power.
During the attempted forced landing near Sheridan, Wyoming, the main landing gear hit an irrigation pipe, the left wing tip hit a fence post, and the airplane then slid about 60 feet before coming to rest upright.
The pilot reported that, after exiting the airplane, he observed a broken wire on the cowl flap cable, which he believed would have allowed the cowl flap to completely close and then resulted in the engine overheating.
However, during a post-accident engine examination, it could not be determined if the wire on the cowl flap broke before or during the accident.
The NTSB determined the probable cause as a loss of engine power while maneuvering at low altitude for reasons that could not be determined.
NTSB Identification: WPR15LA058
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.
Suspect auto gas usage with alcohol that has evaporated off leaving the water in the remainder of the fuel. Auto gas will not store for long. Better to use airplane fuel if he is not flying it regularly anyway. I remember using the old 80 octane that was nearly 10 years old and it ran out perfectly. It also saved the bladders it was stored withn.
An accident does not occur until landing touchdown or rollout.
An engine failure, fuel mismanagement, or control loss of any kind can require immediate landing but the accident is the result of the flight control during the following approach and touchdown.
An emergency landing that did not cause damage or injury is not an accident.
What does not seem to be considered in emergency landings is did the Pilot land at the chosen area. Most emergency off-field landings touchdown midpoint or beyond on the chosen site. “I don’t want to be low or slow”, and one-half of the fatalities of these accidents result from overrunning the landing area.
The unintended consequence of the change several years ago from idle-power approaches to longer approaches for landings, there has been no requirement for GA proficiency in those type landings, which happen to be the same for engine out approaches. Besides eating a lot of training time making long approaches.
Most newly trained Instructors are not proficient in normal landings at a designated spot. The majority of flight training is at long paved runways. Just touchdown wherever!
An airplane that hasn’t been flown in “some time” should probably be kept close enough to the departure airport to be able to execute a power off landing back to that airport if necessary. Use it or lose it would appear to be the moral of this accident story.