On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:30:52 -0600, Gig 601XL Builder
wrote:

No support that it was an engine failure? How about the pilot's own words, a
few seconds before she died? She SAID she was losing power! OK it could well
have been something stupid like carb ice. I'd list that as an engine
failure. Doesn't happen in water cooled engines that heat the intake
manifold with coolant.

Carb ice, fuel starvation, broken throttle control... The list goes on
and on.

Since there's so many RVs, I've been able to run a parallel analysis of RV
accident causes to see how they vary from the general homebuilt causes.

RVs have significantly higher accident rates due to fuel exhaustion, VFR in IFR
conditions, and carburetor icing.

The first two can probably be mostly explained by the RV's suitability for
cross-country flight; they're more likely to be used for pure transportation
than a Kitfox, etc. and are thus more likely to run out of fuel prematurely or
have the pilot try to push weather. In fact, the RV rates closely reflect those
of my Cessna 172/210 control group.

I've been told that many RVs don't have conventional muff-type carb heat. If
so, this could somewhat explain the higher accident rate due to icing.

[Please note that I am writing in general here...I do not have any insight into
specifics of the recent accident.]

Ron Wanttaja