Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

On July 3, 2022, about 0735 mountain daylight time, an experimental, Vans RV-6 airplane, N184CB, sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident near Aurora, Colorado. The pilot was not injured; the passenger sustained minor injuries. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

The airplane had a total of 35 gallons of fuel onboard for the cross-country flight. The pilot reported that, shortly after takeoff from runway 26, as he began a left turn, the engine lost total power. The pilot contacted the control tower about the loss of engine power, and he was cleared to land on runway 8. After assessing the altitude and airspeed, the pilot determined that the airplane would not be able to land on runway 8 and he decided to perform a forced landing straight ahead to a flat cornfield. The airplane came to rest upright in the field and the occupants egressed without further incident.

The airplane sustained substantial damage to the engine mount and the lower fuselage. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed a piece of black plastic material lodged in the carburetor throttle body downstream of the air intake filter. The foreign object debris (FOD) was like the material used with common trash bags. The pilot reported that he did not know where the FOD may have originated.

The pilot reported that the last time the area, consisting of the air filter, the air filter bowl, and the carburetor, was accessed was in April, 2021, when the pilot, working as a repairman, performed inspection work. At the time of the accident, the airplane had accumulated about 62 flight hours since that inspection.

In the RV-6 series airplanes, the carburetor heat valve provides heated air forward of the air filter; thus, the carburetor heat air flow does not bypass the air filter. A total loss of engine power due to foreign object debris blockage of engine air intake. The source of the debris could not be determined based on the available information.