The Airplane’s Windshield Was Partly Covered With Frost As It Began To Taxi In The Parking Ramp Area

NTSB Report: Remos GX N449RA
Injuries: 1 Serious Location: Taylor, AZ Date & Time: December 6, 2023, 07:44 
Local Registration: N449RA Aircraft: Remos Aircraft Gx LSA
Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General aviation - Personal

A recent incident put an exclamation mark under the importance of clearing aircraft of ice before flight - even when operating out of “warm and sunny” regions.

The NTSB Report makes note of a fateful, chilly morning in Taylor, Arizona, when a Remos Gx light sport plane took off with early morning frost attached to the windows and control surfaces. The plane took off about 0744 local on December 6th, and quickly came back down to the field in an inverted attitude, destroying the aircraft and seriously injuriing the pilot in command.

In the report, the NTSB notes an interview with the local airport manager, who saw the Remox starting up and taxiing. “The airplane’s windshield was partly covered with frost as it began to taxi in the parking ramp area. He thought that the pilot may have been taxiing into the sun to melt the frost that had covered the airplane. He further reported that it is quite common that the airplanes are moved on the ramp in the morning to melt the frost before flight. The airport manager went inside to his office and shortly after received a call on the radio from an airplane flying over the airport that an airplane had crashed on the runway.”

A survey of the accident site showed that the “airplane impacted near the centerline of the runway about midfield in an inverted, nose down attitude, then came to rest inverted on the left side of the runway.” The culprit was likely gleaned from a photo taken not long after the crash, revealing “that the upper surfaces of the horizontal stabilizers was covered in frost.”

FMI: www.ntsb.gov