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FTW87FA037

1986-12-26 · ALTUS, Oklahoma, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport AXS

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE PILOT WAS CIRCLING ABOUT 40-50 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND AT A SLOW RATE OF AIRSPEED WHILE SEARCHING FOR A LOST DOG. HE WAS USING 10 DEGREES OF FLAPS AND MOST PROBABLY OPERATING AT A REDUCED POWER SETTING. CARBURETOR ICING CONDITIONS WERE PRESENT AND CARBURETOR HEAT WAS NOT BEING USED. HE APPARENTLY LOCATED THE DOG, STARTED A CLIMB, AND ADVANCED THE THROTTLE TO DEPART THE AREA WHEN THE ENGINE QUIT DUE TO AN EXCESSIVELY RICH FUEL MIXTURE AS A RESULT OF AN ACCUMULATION OF CARBURETOR ICE. THE AIRCRAFT THEN STALLED WITHOUT SUFFICIENT ALTITUDE TO RECOVER BEFORE GROUND IMPACT OCCURRED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1986_FTW87FA037.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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