The airplane was being used to haul skydivers. According to the pilot, after about the third or fourth flight, there was a partial loss of power, due to a fuel tank vent that had been blocked by a mud dauber nest. The pilot noted that when a fuel cap was removed, he heard a ‘hiss’ as differential air pressure was relieved. Maintenance was performed to clear the vent, then the pilot continued hauling skydivers.
Category: C-182
A commercial pilot was returning to land after dropping parachutists in the local area. While on short final, the airplane impacted a fence, nosed over, and came to rest in the inverted position. The operator stated that the airplane encountered a downdraft created by a hangar adjacent to the runway. The wind at the nearest observation facility, eight miles north of the site, was from 300 degrees at 6 knots.
The pilot stated after the third parachute jumper exited the aircraft, he ‘…Continued at reduced power and started to glide down…For landing. As i was starting a long final approach i saw that i would need power to maintain the glide slope. There was no response when i advanced the throttle.’ attempts to restart the engine were unsuccessful and the pilot made a forced landing.
During a vfr final approach, following a parachute jumping flight, to a private airstrip the engine lost all power. The pilot made a forced landing into a field. The owner/operator reported that the flaps remained in the up position at the accident site and that the pilot had stated the flaps remained in the up position during the approach and landing. The manufacturers’ procedures list full flaps for a shortfield landing. During the flare/touchdown the nose gear collapsed and the airplane came to rest in an inverted position. The cause of the power loss was not determined.
During takeoff roll while hauling parachute jumpers from a private airstrip, the aircraft failed to become airborne, departed the runway and collided with a ditch. The aircraft came to rest upright partially extending onto a country road which bordered the airstrip. Weight of the aircraft was computed to be 250.5 pounds over maximum certified gross weight.
The pilot had taken a newlywed couple up on a ceremonial ‘mile high’ local pleasure flight as a wedding gift. He reported that during a maneuver he felt a ‘shudder’, and elected to make a low pass over an airport taxiway, by some friends on the ground with a hand-held radio, for a ‘landing gear check’. During the second pass the pilot asked the couple to ‘look to the right where the moon shines over barnwell.’ the airplane collided with a spectator on the taxiway. A pax stated that the pilot then ‘freaked out’ and was in no condition to fly the airplane. During a subsequent landing attempt, a pax prevented a go-around by forcing the yoke forward and pushing on the brake pedals with his hands. The pax stated the pilot ‘wanted to keep flying and he was going nuts.’ the pilot fled the scene after the accident but returned later. The pilot had arranged to have the people on the ground ‘moon’ the airplane during the low pass.
After the parachutists exited the airplane, the flight returned to the airport and entered the downwind leg at 750 feet. Flaps were extended and when turning to final approach, the pilot stated that the airplane encountered a high sink rate. Before the pilot could correct the situation, the airplane collided with 20 foot tall trees approximately 300 feet short of the runway.
During a daytime flight, maneuvering at 8,500 feet msl, a parachute jumper exited the airplane to position on the right wing strut in preparation for the jump. The jumper’s reserve parachute inadvertently opened and the jumper was pulled from the strut and impacted the leading edge of the right horizontal stabilizer bending the spar. The airplane landed safely without further incident.
Pilot was flying a group of sport parachutists on a jump run, and noticed a pilot parachute out of its pack. The pilot yelled at parachutist but he stepped onto the aircraft wing strut. The parachute deployed and pulled the parachutist off the strut. The parachute became momentarily entangled with the horizontal stabilizer. The pilot landed the aircraft safely. The parachutist landed safely.
With the door open and preparing to jump, a skydiver had premature deployment of his main parachute. He jumped out the door and his parachute became entangled in the elevator of the airplane. The pilot said the airplane pitched down and the other skydivers immediately exited the airplane. The skydiver whose parachute was entangled with the tail, cut away his parachute and used his reserved chute for landing.
Engine quit on final approach while returning from dropping parachutists. A forced landing was made in a field and the aircraft collided with a ditch on rollout. Post crash examination of the aircraft by faa inspectors indicated the left fuel tank contained one pint of fuel and the right fuel tank contained 1 gallon of fuel. Aircraft information indicated 1.5 gallons of fuel is unusable in each tank. The engine operated normally after the accident and there was no pre or post crash fuel leakage from the aircraft.
The airplane had landed following a sport parachute flight. During the landing roll the nose wheel separated from the strut. The nose strut dug into the sod runway & the airplane nosed over inverted. An faa inspector examined the airplane & noted that the nut & bolt which secured the nose wheel was absent. It was not located. He stated that there was no evidence that the bolt had broken. No maintenance to the nose wheel had been recorded recently, & the last annual inspection was logged 8 months & 72 flight hours before the accident.
As the first parachutist was preparing to jump from the wing at an altitude of 12,000 feet, his reserve parachute release handle became attached to some part of the airplane. Before he could react, the parachute opened and pulled him from the wing. The partially deployed chute wrapped around the right horizontal stabilizer, slamming him against the aircraft. The right stabilizer broke away and the jumper descended to a safe landing under the deployed canopy..
The flight was in level cruise and 3 of the 4 jumpers were positioned on the step ready to jump. The reserve chute on one of the jumpers accidently deployed and was sucked forward and over the right wing leading edge. The jumper was pulled forward and over the wing, and in the process, hit his head on the wing leading edge and substantially damaged the internal wing structure. As the jumper’s chute deployed over the wing, the aircraft was rolled inverted. The other jumpers jumped and parachuted to the ground safely.
The airplane had departed the airport on a local area flight in order to drop two skydivers. After the departure of the parachutists a total loss of power was experienced during approach. The airplane collided with 60 foot high pine trees one half mile from the approach end of the runway. Subsequent investigation revealed that the left tank was empty; the right tank contained approximately 11 gallons, and the fuel selector handle was missing.
At the beginning of a flight for the purpose of dropping parachutists, the pilot reported that everything was normal for the start, taxi, and take off. When the airplane reached an altitude of 150 feet agl, the engine lost power. The pilot set-up for a forced landing in a field with the engine producing partial power and regaining full power, then back to partial power, until touch down. During the landing roll, the airplane collided with a fence. The carburetor icing chart indicates that the flight was being operated in serious icing at cruise and climb power. The pilot had not utilized carburetor heat for the flight.
Subsequent to the departure of the skydivers, the airplane entered a spiral descent. The jump door, not the sky motive jump door listed on the airplane’s form 337, which had been approved by an faa inspector, entered a flutter condition. The pilot door, windshield and pilot door window separated during the descent. This flutter condition and separation of components resulted in the pilot being unable to control the airplane. Impact occurred in a 20 to 30 degree nose low attitude in approximately a 65 degree left angle of bank.
Before departing on the initial parachute jumping flight the pilot dipped sticked both tanks and determined that they contained 23 gallons of fuel. The pilot inaccurately calculated that there would be enough fuel to conduct the initial and second flight before fueling would be required. After the parachute jumper departed the airplane on the second flight and during the normal descent to the airport the airplane sustained a total loss of power. The pilot elected to land in a grape vineyard because the airplane’s altitude was insufficient to negotiate the airport. The airplane struck a unmarked transmission wire and crashed during the emergency landing. The airplane contained about 8 gallons of fuel, the unusable amount for all attitudes.
The plts of 2 cessna 182 acft took off from rwy 10 in formation. One of these, n6384a, had 4 skydivers aboard. After takeoff, the plt of n6384a discontinued formation flt & depd to the se, while the otr cessna depd ne. At about the same time, a piper pa-28, n4676r, was apchg the arpt with a dual student & instructor (cfi) aboard. Subsequently, the 2 acft converged & collided about 1-1/2 mi se of the arpt. No known witness saw the collision; the altitude & headings of the acft were not verified. During impact, the 2 acft became entangled & they impacted the ground at the same location. An investigation revealed evidence that the high wing cessna & the low wing pa-28 converged laterally, while on flt paths that angled toward each other.
The engine lost power as the pilot made a power reduction shortly after takeoff. During a forced landing in a christmas tree crop, the airplane stalled about 90 ft agl. Investigation revealed that the muffler cones were missing. Witnesses and the pilot stated that the temperature was 40 deg f and the dew point aprx 36 deg. That combination is within the range favorable to induction system icing.
The aircraft crashed about 600 feet short of the threshold of the runway. Witnesses observed that the engine had been ‘cutting in and out’ before the crash. A photograph taken at the crash site showed the fuel selector handle displaced between the left main position and the both position.
After climbing out of the aircraft on his first jump, the skydiver froze on the lift strut of the aircraft. The jumpmaster deployed his chute, intentionally pulling him off the aircraft. The chute deployed above the horizontal stabilizer, the skydiver went below. The canopy lines (4) were dragged across the horizontal stabilizer cutting the lines and damaging the stabilizer. The skydiver received serious injuries on landing in a field. The pilot was able to make a precautionary landing with no additional damage.
The wing flaps jammed in the mid range position. The parachutist on board exited the airplane and the pilot returned for a landing. He extended the traffic pattern and while on base leg, the engine lost power. He was unable to get the engine restarted and was beyond gliding distance to the airport. The pilot executed an off airport landing in a field, downwind. The faa reported the flaps were jammed due to a broken flap support on the inboard left flap track and the engine was test run satisfactory after the accident. Fuel was reported to be at the 1/4 level. The power loss was attributed to the fuel selector being improperly position.
After completing a parachute drop, the pilot was returning to the airport for landing. The pilot applied carburetor heat while descending to the pattern, but turned it off during the extended down wind. When on short final, the engine suddenly lost power. The pilot was unable to land the airplane on the airport and initiated a forced landing in an open field. During the landing roll, the airplane nosed over. Examination of the engine did not reveal evidence of mechanical failure or malfunction.
The pilot of the cessna 182 was descending in a right turn after dropping parachute jumpers at 4500 ft msl. As he descended below 1500 ft msl, his aircraft collided with a beech a36. The a36 had departed from the queen city airport and was in the traffic pattern to land at the airport when the collision occurred. The cessna crashed in a paved parking lot of a shopping center and the beech crashed into a new car dealership’s parking lot. Both aircraft were destroyed along with several cars in the dealership’s lot.