On 24 November, the student-pilot (hereinafter – student) arrived at the aerodrome before 8:00 hrs LMT1 , filed the flight plan and at around 8:30 hrs performed a pre-flight check of the aircraft. At 8:57 hrs she took off.
Over Oscar waypoint the student established communication with FIS EPWA and was maintaining an altitude of about 1,500 ft. When she noticed that the cloud base was lowering, she turned on the carburetor heater and descended by 400 ft. Then she turned off the carburetor heater and continued the flight as planned.
About 20 minutes after take-off, at an altitude of 1,100 ft, the student noticed a difference in the engine sound. At the same time, she noticed a drop in RPM (from 2300 to 1950 RPM). She reported to FIS EPWA the engine problem and the intention to land in random area.
During emergency landing, the plane turned over. The student suffered minor injuries but managed to get out of the damaged aircraft on her own. During the inspection of the aircraft at the accident site, it was found that the carburetor heater lever was in the “closed” position (no heating). The aircraft’s engine was not running at the time of the collision.
Cause of the occurrence: Loss of engine power due to carburetor icing with the carburetor heating system turned off, which led to an emergency, off-field landing, which resulted in the aircraft damage due to turnover.
Contributing factors:
1) Meteorological conditions conducive to carburetor icing.
2) Time deficit resulting from flying at an altitude lower than planned.
3) Little flight experience of the student.
4) Pilot error during off-field landing.
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