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Atlas / NTSB / BFO92LA087

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event BFO92LA087

1992-07-06 FREDERICK, Maryland, United States Airport · FDK None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N92668

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER J3C-65

Year of manufacture

1946 · 46 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR A&C65 SERIES (65 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19560613

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S ACD7BF

Registrant of record

EASTERN STEARMAN INC TRUSTEE

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S IMPROPER USE OF CARBURETOR HEAT RESULTING IN THE FORMATION OF CARBURETOR ICE. CARBURETOR ICING WEATHER CONDITIONS WAS A FACTOR.

Factual narrative

THE CERTIFICATED FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR (CFI) STATED THAT THE FLIGHT WAS AN INTRODUCTION FLIGHT. HE STATED THAT AFTER THE PREFLIGHT, HE AND THE STUDENT SPENT SOME TIME TAXIING THE AIRPLANE AND PERFORMED SOME GROUND HANDLING EXERCISES. THE CFI STATED PRIOR TO TAKEOFF, TWO ENGINE RUN-UP'S WERE PERFORMED, AND NOTHING UNUSUAL WAS NOTED. THE CFI STATED THAT SHORTLY AFTER LIFTOFF THE ENGINE LOST PARTIAL POWER. HE STATED THAT A STRAIGHT AHEAD LANDING WAS NOT POSSIBLE DUE TO TREES AND HOMES, SO A LEFT TURN WAS MADE. THE CFI SAID HE CHECKED THE MAGNETOS, FUEL, AND APPLIED CARBURETOR HEAT. HE STATED THAT THE ENGINE CONTINUED TO LOSE POWER. THE CFI SAID HE EXECUTED AN OFF AIRPORT EMERGENCY LANDING AND SHORTLY AFTER TOUCHDOWN THE AIRPLANE'S LEFT WING STRUCK A TREE CAUSING SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE. THE ON SCENE INVESTIGATION BY THE FAA REVEALED THE AIRPLANE WAS FUELED AND NO ENGINE ANOMALIES WERE FOUND. THE CFI REPORTED THE TEMPERATURE AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT WAS 64 DEGREES F, AND THE DEW POINT WAS 63 DEGREES F. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1992_BFO92LA087.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (icing). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗