NTSB Identification: CEN12LA609
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Wednesday, September 05, 2012 in Hamilton, TX
Aircraft: Cessna 175B, registration: N8260T
Injuries: 1 Uninjured.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On September 5, 2012, about 1555 central daylight time, a Cessna model 175B airplane, N8260T, was substantially damaged during a forced landing at Hamilton Municipal Airport (KMNZ), Hamilton, Texas. The student pilot, who was the sole occupant, was not injured. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 without a flight plan. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local flight that was originating at the time of the accident.

The student pilot reported that accident occurred on the first flight since the airplane had been refueled (topped-off) a couple days earlier. He did not observe any water or particulate contamination of the fuel samples obtained from the gascolator bowl or both wing tanks during his preflight inspection. He stated that he always operated the airplane with the fuel tank selector valve positioned to draw fuel from both fuel tanks. Before takeoff, he verified that no anomalies existed with the engine operation during two separate run-up checks and while he applied power for takeoff. He stated that liftoff was achieved at about 65 knots after the airplane had accelerated normally on the takeoff roll. The initial climb after liftoff was uneventful until 400 feet above ground level when he reportedly sensed that the airplane was not climbing normally, at which time he identified that the engine was not producing takeoff power and was unresponsive to his throttle movements. He verified that the mixture lever was in the full rich position before he focused on completing a forced landing. He reported that the airplane impacted a small tree during touchdown and subsequently descended a small hill before coming to a stop. The fuselage, engine firewall, and both wings were substantially damaged during the forced landing.

At 1555, the airport's automatic weather observing station reported the following weather conditions: wind from 150 degrees at 11 knots, gusting 14 knots; visibility 10 miles; clear skies; temperature 38 degrees Celsius; dew point 13 degrees Celsius, altimeter 29.86 inches of mercury.

Index for Sep2012 | Index of months