Aero Taxi - USA

While en route, the pilot encountered icing conditions, then reported he was unable to maintain altitude and was having engine problems. He diverted toward Allentown, PA, then advised he had lost power in the left engine. Approach control began issuing vectors for a VOR approach; however, the pilot advised he was unable to open his approach plates and requested a surveillance radar approach. Radar vectors and advisories were provided until the pilot reported he had the airport in sight. Several witnesses observed that the left prop was feathered as the aircraft approached the airport. The pilot maneuvered the aircraft to a left downwind for runway 24 at about 400 feet agl with the landing gear extended. Witnesses reported the aircraft's nose pitch up, then down, then the aircraft rolled to the left and crashed. In a trailer court it hit a mobile home and a propane tank and burned. A person in the mobile home was fatally injured. An exam of the wreckage revealed the left prop blades were at the low pitch stops. No preimpact failures were found.

During the takeoff roll at New Cumberland Airport, the pilot decided to abort the takeoff due to technical issues on the left engine. Unable to stop within the remaining distance, the airplane overran, struck a moving vehicle on a road and crashed. The pilot was slightly injured while no one on the ground was injured.

The pilot and his passenger departed Rockford in the early morning and completed several flights in the region all along the day. While cruising by night over Lake Michigan, the pilot lost control of the airplane that crashed into the lake off Manitou Beach. Both occupants were killed.