Narrative:

Having accomplished the heating of the oil to operating temperature and working on my airborne currency I proceeded to reduce the power to 1;500 RPM; open the carburetor heat and reduce the mixture control for a descent from 2;500 ft AGL. I turned to a grass rc (remote controlled aircraft) strip. The strip is approximately 1;000 ft long with an east - west orientation; numerous wind socks; and a clear approach and departure path as it sits within a much larger area of farmland. It sits in a location that is easily accessible from the practice area and would be a convenient and better prepared place to do a forced landing than the surrounding farm land if engine problems arose during practice. Having been to this field numerous times I was confident in making a touch and go to a short field such as this. As often as I had been there; I never seriously considered landing there unless I had an emergency in the practice areas. I had no permission from the rc club to touch and go there; but I was familiar with other pilots that had spoken with the club members that encouraged its use. On a right downwind to do a touch and go to the west I did a gumps check. The fuel was on. The undercarriage was down. The mixture was left slightly out and the carburetor heat was turned on. I also check the magnetos in both because the switch is in a location that one could accidentally move the switch to single magneto. I turned final. With a slight north wind blowing I overshot slightly and had to correct back to the right to align with the field. I align to the right of what would be considered the center of the field and established the proper speed and descent for approach. On short final I put the carburetor heat to off and ensured the mixture was in. Due to the brevity of the approach I was unable to 'clear the engine' by increasing the RPM slightly to make sure there wasn't too much fuel in the cylinders. I touched down a little further than I had planned but no further than 200 ft. As I touched down I moved the throttle affirmatively; but not aggressively; to full throttle. The engine coughed. It then sputtered. I knew I had set the carburetor heat to off. No doubt. I then looked at the mixture control. It appeared in but I pushed it full forward again and worked the throttle. The engine caught and came up to just about full power; then sputtered and coughed again. I have had airplanes sputter and cough on me before but they had always caught and resumed full power. This time it wasn't doing it. On the western edge of the field the grass is uncut and rather high. It us maybe eighteen inches high. Beyond that is a dirt access road. Adjacent to the road; further to the west; is a five foot deep ditch that spans no more than ten feet. I now have to make a decision; stop in the remaining clear land and avoid the ditch or keep the power in an use the thrust to clear the ditch and put the aircraft in the field just on the other side of the ditch. Considering the poor performance of the brakes I did not attempt to abort the landing. The optimist in me and my experience told me this aircraft engine was going to roar to life and I was going to get enough thrust out of it to clear the ditch. With the throttle fully open it didn't make enough power to overcome the increased drag of the high grass that I was passing through. I had just enough back stick input to establish a slight climb if the power was restored. The aircraft crossed the road with a little acceleration but not enough to clear the ditch. The front left landing gear caught the far side of the ditch maybe eight to twelve inches below the level of the adjacent field. The aircraft stopped abruptly and angled 45 degrees to the left collapsing both main gear and bending one blade on the propeller. The wings and fuselage were undamaged; accept for the landing gear attach points and fabric on the underside of the fuselage. The cowl was also damaged. As the aircraft came to an abrupt stop with aslightly nose low attitude I checked the condition of the engine for smoke and the area for exit. I retarded the throttle to idle; pulled the mixture to idle-cutoff; turned the magnetos and fuel off. I then exited the airplane. Examining the chain of events: how could this have been avoided?1. I should not have been so impulsive. Being six or seven miles from the field at 2;500 ft AGL I should have kept the power up and entered a downwind. Instead; upon seeing the rc field; I made a split second decision to do a touch and go to that field. As an instructor; these are the type of split second decisions you force upon a student in their training; but it's something that is already planned out and as the instructor I am familiar with the operating limitations of the area in which I am putting my student. 2. Poor choice of field. The field is short. It's grassy. It has drainage ditches on both ends. There is a fence and some structures parallel to the touch and go direction; but there was no chance of me running into them. 3. Not clearing the engine on approach. In my haste be lined up for the land I didn't clear the engine because I intentionally left the carburetor heat on and mixture leaned due to the extended descent from 2;500 ft with low power.4. Complacency and poor decision making. I had been to the field a number of times previously and never had I had a problem. I believe that I had let my guard down and was too complacent with respect to the limitations of attempting a touch and go on this field. 5. Poor judgment. I impulsively made a late-planned; pseudo forced landing to a very challenging and poorly chosen field. In doing so; I did not operate the aircraft normally by not turning the carburetor heat off and mixture full rich earlier and therefore not clearing the engine on the approach. Furthermore; upon go-around I had no plan for a worse case scenario in which full engine power might not be available or engine failure might occur.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Aeronca pilot attempted a touch and go on short grass RC field. When engine sputtered; the aircraft went into ditch.

Narrative: Having accomplished the heating of the oil to operating temperature and working on my airborne currency I proceeded to reduce the power to 1;500 RPM; open the carburetor heat and reduce the mixture control for a descent from 2;500 FT AGL. I turned to a grass RC (remote controlled aircraft) strip. The strip is approximately 1;000 FT long with an east - west orientation; numerous wind socks; and a clear approach and departure path as it sits within a much larger area of farmland. It sits in a location that is easily accessible from the practice area and would be a convenient and better prepared place to do a forced landing than the surrounding farm land if engine problems arose during practice. Having been to this field numerous times I was confident in making a touch and go to a short field such as this. As often as I had been there; I never seriously considered landing there unless I had an emergency in the practice areas. I had no permission from the RC club to touch and go there; but I was familiar with other pilots that had spoken with the club members that encouraged its use. On a right downwind to do a touch and go to the west I did a GUMPS check. The fuel was on. The undercarriage was down. The mixture was left slightly out and the carburetor heat was turned on. I also check the magnetos in both because the switch is in a location that one could accidentally move the switch to single magneto. I turned final. With a slight north wind blowing I overshot slightly and had to correct back to the right to align with the field. I align to the right of what would be considered the center of the field and established the proper speed and descent for approach. On short final I put the carburetor heat to off and ensured the mixture was in. Due to the brevity of the approach I was unable to 'clear the engine' by increasing the RPM slightly to make sure there wasn't too much fuel in the cylinders. I touched down a little further than I had planned but no further than 200 FT. As I touched down I moved the throttle affirmatively; but not aggressively; to full throttle. The engine coughed. It then sputtered. I knew I had set the carburetor heat to off. No doubt. I then looked at the mixture control. It appeared in but I pushed it full forward again and worked the throttle. The engine caught and came up to just about full power; then sputtered and coughed again. I have had airplanes sputter and cough on me before but they had always caught and resumed full power. This time it wasn't doing it. On the western edge of the field the grass is uncut and rather high. It us maybe eighteen inches high. Beyond that is a dirt access road. Adjacent to the road; further to the west; is a five foot deep ditch that spans no more than ten feet. I now have to make a decision; stop in the remaining clear land and avoid the ditch or keep the power in an use the thrust to clear the ditch and put the aircraft in the field just on the other side of the ditch. Considering the poor performance of the brakes I did not attempt to abort the landing. The optimist in me and my experience told me this aircraft engine was going to roar to life and I was going to get enough thrust out of it to clear the ditch. With the throttle fully open it didn't make enough power to overcome the increased drag of the high grass that I was passing through. I had just enough back stick input to establish a slight climb if the power was restored. The aircraft crossed the road with a little acceleration but not enough to clear the ditch. The front left landing gear caught the far side of the ditch maybe eight to twelve inches below the level of the adjacent field. The aircraft stopped abruptly and angled 45 degrees to the left collapsing both main gear and bending one blade on the propeller. The wings and fuselage were undamaged; accept for the landing gear attach points and fabric on the underside of the fuselage. The cowl was also damaged. As the aircraft came to an abrupt stop with aslightly nose low attitude I checked the condition of the engine for smoke and the area for exit. I retarded the throttle to idle; pulled the mixture to idle-cutoff; turned the magnetos and fuel off. I then exited the airplane. Examining the chain of events: How could this have been avoided?1. I should not have been so impulsive. Being six or seven miles from the field at 2;500 FT AGL I should have kept the power up and entered a downwind. Instead; upon seeing the RC field; I made a split second decision to do a touch and go to that field. As an instructor; these are the type of split second decisions you force upon a student in their training; but it's something that is already planned out and as the instructor I am familiar with the operating limitations of the area in which I am putting my student. 2. Poor choice of field. The field is short. It's grassy. It has drainage ditches on both ends. There is a fence and some structures parallel to the touch and go direction; but there was no chance of me running into them. 3. Not clearing the engine on approach. In my haste be lined up for the land I didn't clear the engine because I intentionally left the carburetor heat on and mixture leaned due to the extended descent from 2;500 FT with low power.4. Complacency and poor decision making. I had been to the field a number of times previously and never had I had a problem. I believe that I had let my guard down and was too complacent with respect to the limitations of attempting a touch and go on this field. 5. Poor judgment. I impulsively made a late-planned; pseudo forced landing to a very challenging and poorly chosen field. In doing so; I did not operate the aircraft normally by not turning the carburetor heat off and mixture full rich earlier and therefore not clearing the engine on the approach. Furthermore; upon go-around I had no plan for a worse case scenario in which full engine power might not be available or engine failure might occur.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.