Primary finding
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain airspeed during the landing with known structural icing, which resulted in the airplane’s stall. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to divert to an area where conditions were not conducive to icing.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
An air traffic controller provided the pilot with an altitude at which to cruise, but the airplane began accumulating structural icing. The pilot requested a lower altitude, but the altitude was still in clouds and the airplane continued to accumulate ice; the controller was unable to provide an even lower altitude to the pilot due to the minimum vectoring altitude. The pilot then visually acquired the airport, at which point the airplane had accumulated 1 1/2 to 2 inches of structural icing. The pilot kept the airplane's speed up during the pattern; however, on short final he reduced power and the airplane stalled about 105 mph. The airplane impacted terrain short of the runway and sustained substantial left and right wing damage. He reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions with the airplane during the flight that would have precluded normal operations. The pilot indicated that he should have obtained the weather conditions at his destination in flight, because they had worsened, or he should have sought an ice-free solution, which may have been behind his flight path.
Source record
Factual narrative
The pilot was given an altitude to fly by an air traffic controller where the pilot saw that the airplane collected one and one-half to two inches of structural ice. The pilot requested a lower altitude and the controller was unable to accommodate the pilot due to the minimum vectoring altitude. The pilot kept the airplane's speed up during the pattern. However, on short final he reduced power and the airplane stalled about 105 mph. The airplane impacted terrain short of the runway and sustained substantial left and right wing damage. He reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions with the airplane during the flight. The pilot's safety recommendation indicated that he should have sought an ice free solution which would have been behind his ultimate flight path.