Cell phone video captures Utah plane crash

A single-engine Cessna 175 which crashed in a field in northern Utah Saturday afternoon, after its engine failed. / KUTV

WELLSVILLE, Utah The crash of a small plane in Utah was captured by one of the passengers on his cell phone, from the moment the plane began to fail to after the single-engine Cessna 175 wound up, upside-down, in a field in Cache County.

Jonathan and Kara Fielding were aboard a family's friend plane Saturday afternoon, marking Kara's birthday, along with their seven-month-old baby and Kara's mother. It was Kara's first trip on an airplane.

Jonathan documented the trip on video as the plane cleared the Wellsville Mountains, and shared his experience with CBS Affiliate KUTV. "We are just over the top of the overpass," he narrated. "We are told that there's carburetor ice, so this is kind of exciting. I'm not worried. I think we're going to be just fine."

Pilot Lynn Goodsell turned on the carburetor heater, but the engine shut down. Goodsell began reviewing his emergency checklist, and searched for an impromptu landing spot below.

"Just got a prayer in our heart. I think we're gonna be just fine," Jonathan said.

All five remained calm as the plane hovered over a Wellsville neighborhood.

"We're going to land in a field, right here," Jonathan said calmly, just before the plane touched down in a wide expanse of snow, only to flip over.

The phone flew from Jonathan's hands but continued to record the crash, and the reactions of passengers who were strapped in their seats, upside-down.

The baby is heard crying for a few seconds. The adults unbuckled their seatbelts and climbed out, uninjured.

In an otherwise serene scene lay Goodsell's plane, totaled.

Jonathan Fielding asked his wife if she would ever fly again; she answered "yes."

KUTV correspondent Christine McCarthy reports the FAA and NTSB are investigating.

[sumpthiscom]

"The plane went down shortly after taking off and an investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board is at the scene of a fatal plane crash."

What is it with aircraft engines that seem to fail after takeoff and what has the NTSB ever correlated about this anomaly?

Why did the NTSB ignore my Petition about this anomaly? http://www.sumpthis.com/ntsbpetition/ntsbpetitioncontents.htm

Could the sump drains that check for water in the fuel tanks not work as certified?

Is the preflight procedure checking for water in the fuel flawed?

Pending the discovery of a catastrophic engine failure was it undetectable water in the fuel tanks the pilot could not positively detect during the preflight?

When was the first or last time the FAA or NTSB did a real world test of the sump drains and preflight procedure?

Aircraft takes off and changes it attitude. When it takes off and changes its attitude could water hiding in the fuel tank then change its attitude? Could this water in the fuel tank leave its hiding place, after takeoff, and make its way to the engine fuel pick-up?

The NTSB has written off engine failures in General Aviation Aircraft well over six thousand four hundred eighteen times with the probable cause of UNDETERMINED.
If the NTSB cannot get a handle on the complexities of air, spark, compression and UNCONTAMINATED FUEL, maybe the NTSB should ask a good old country boy mechanic.

Do not believe blindly in the FAA certification where the pre-flight procedure and checking the sump for water in the fuel tanks is concerned.

Do your own red dyed water in the fuel tank test as the aircraft sits in its normal ground attitude. Pour in 16 ounces of red dyed water just as the NTSB did over two decades ago,
see NTSB Safety Recommendation A-83-6, then go to the sump drains and see if you can positively detect and then eliminate the entire 16 ounces of red dyed water you just poured into the fuel tank.

In my opinion, neither the NTSB or FAA on the scene could investigate their way out of a paper bag. But both government agencies are excellent when it involves a twenty nine year old cover-up.