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SEA90LA082

1990-05-21 · ELLENSBURG, Washington, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport ELN

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE LOSS OF ENGINE POWER DUE TO CARBURETOR ICING, CAUSED BY THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO APPLY CARBURETOR HEAT. FACTORS IN THE ACCIDENT WERE THE CARBURETOR ICING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND THE LACK OF SUITABLE TERRAIN FOR FORCED LANDING.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT TOOK OFF FROM ELLENSBURG AIRPORT AND WAS CLIMBING ON DOWNWIND WHEN THE ENGINE QUIT. HE WAS UNABLE TO RETURN TO THE RUNWAY FOR THE EMERGENCY FORCED LANDING. THE AIRCRAFT IMPACTED ROUGH TERRAIN OFF THE AIRPORT, AND WAS SUBSTANTIALLY DAMAGED. ICING PROBABILITY CHARTS INDICATE MODERATE TO SEVERE CARB ICING CONDITIONS EXISTED. THE PILOT HAD NOT APPLIED CARB HEAT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_SEA90LA082.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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