N8884Cessna 180K · 1979

On July 23, 2021, about 2045 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 180K airplane, N8884 was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Mt. Hood, Oregon. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

About 45 minutes after takeoff the engine lost all power with no indications of coughing or sputtering, but the propeller continued to spin. The engine did not regain power, despite the actions of the pilot which included, cycling the propeller, adjusting the mixture to full rich, advancing the throttle to full power, and ensuring that the carb heat was off. The pilot then turned north and used his personal electronic device (PED) to access an aviation navigation application that included Federal Aviation Administration-approved charts, which he used as a guide to fly direct to Ken Jernstedt Airfield (4S2).

He soon realized that he would not make it to 4S2 but observed on the PED that Hanel Field (0OR9) was directly ahead. He proceeded north with the intent to land on runway 34. Upon arrival the pilot saw that the airport was abandoned, and a barn had been erected on the approach end of runway 36, along with multiple vehicles parked on the runway. He decided that he had the altitude to change landing directions and land on runway 16. While maneuvering to runway 16 he added 20° of flaps and turned to a left base leg. He detected a tailwind, felt his rate of descent rate increase, and heard the stall warning horn activate. The airplane struck a tree and collided with terrain about 100 ft north of the runway. The airplane came to rest in a field covered by shrubs and trees. The right wing, from the tip to about midspan, and the right aileron separated. The pilot reported that his PED had an aviation navigation application that included Federal Aviation Administration approved charts.

The pilot reported that he started the day with 42 gallons of fuel. During the recovery of the airplane on the following day, about 10-15 gallons of fuel were removed from the right wing, and an estimated 5 to 10 gallons had leaked out of the left wing, which still had some fuel remaining in the tank.

Examination of the airframe revealed that the fuel hose exited the gascolator, made a 90° bend followed by a 180° bend, then attached to a fuel flow transducer. A second fuel hose exited the fuel flow transducer, made a 90° bend then attached to the carburetor. The hoses were secured with clamps to the engine mounts and exhibited no signs of kinks, collapse, or leaks.

The airplane was equipped with an engine data monitoring (EDM) system on August 5, 2020. The fuel flow transducer and the two connecting hoses were part of that installation. According to the pilot, the airplane had accumulated about 41 hours on the airplane, over about 42 flights since the installation of the EDM.

Further examination of the airframe and engine revealed no mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operations. The engine was test-run for 10 minutes at maximum speed using a supplemental fuel tank and the airplane’s throttle, mixture, and propeller controls. The engine operated normally from idle to maximum speed during the entire run time.

According to the data recovered from the EDM, the internal clock was set to coordinated universal time (UTC). The EDM contained data on the last 63 flights and had identified them as Flt# 11 through Flt #73. The last two flights, number 72 and 73, occurred on July 23; however, both were recorded as having occurred on July 24 due to the internal clock being set to UTC. The recorded time was converted to local time for this report.

Flight number 72 began at 1816:28 and continued until 1926:20. The pilot did not report any anomalies on this flight. All recorded data were consistent with an uneventful flight. The fuel used quantity began at 21.5 gallons and ended at 33.9 gallons for a total of 12.4 gallons used.

Flight number 73, the last flight recorded and the accident flight, began at 1935:35 until 2039:06. Data captured included exhaust gas temperature, cylinder head temperature, manifold pressure, engine RPM, oil pressure, and fuel used. At 1935:36, all data rose in a manner consistent with the engine starting and producing power until about 2033:42, when all recorded data began to decrease sharply and continued to decrease until the end of the recorded data. At 2033:48, the fuel flow fluctuated from 0.6 to 0.0 for the remainder of the recorded data, consistent with a total loss of power. Fuel used began at 33.9 and ended at 45.2, for a total of 11.3 gallons used.