While the National Transportation Safety Board does not normally determine a probable cause for an aircraft accident for months, or sometimes years after an event, the preliminary report the Board released of a July 11, 2019, accident involving an Icon A5 made it clear the pilot did not understand how to calculate the airplane’s actual fuel consumption in a variety of conditions. The Icon’s 100-hp Rotax 912iS engine quit as the airplane approached a 3-mile left base leg for Runway 16 at Chicago Executive Airport (PWK) just prior to darkness. Investigators found the Icon’s fuel tank to absolutely dry. The pilot escaped unharmed, but the A5 was destroyed when the aircraft struck trees and terrain in a nearby forest preserve.
NTSB Points to Pilot Error in Icon Crash Near Chicago
Key Takeaways:
- An Icon A5 crashed due to fuel exhaustion near Chicago Executive Airport, destroying the aircraft but leaving the pilot unharmed.
- The accident was primarily caused by the pilot's severe miscalculation of fuel consumption, planning for an economy setting (4.8 gph) but operating the engine at much higher power (6.9-7.1 gph) for most of the flight.
- Digital flight data showed the pilot operated the Rotax engine at nearly maximum power for over half the flight (1.2 hours at 100% power), violating the aircraft's placard and significantly increasing fuel burn.
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