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CEN13CA262

2013-04-25 · Little Falls, Minnesota, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport LXL

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The failure of the airplane's throttle cable.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that he was performing take-offs and landings when the accident occurred. On one of the landings, when the airplane was on the downwind leg of the traffic pattern, the engine went to idle. The pilot attempted to land the airplane on the runway but struck a fence short of the runway. Examination of the airplane revealed that the outer flexible sheath of the throttle cable had come loose from the crimped metal sleeve which was part of the instrument panel fitting. Movement of the cockpit throttle control would not actuate the throttle arm of the carburetor. Records indicated that the airplane was manufactured in 1946 and the throttle cable appeared to be original. No entry indicating replacement of the cable was found in the airplane's maintenance records. The pilot reported that he was performing takeoffs and landings when the accident occurred. He said that on one of the landings, when the airplane was on the downwind leg of the traffic pattern, the engine went to idle. The pilot attempted to land the airplane on the runway, but the airplane struck a fence short of the runway. Examination of the airplane revealed that the outer flexible sheath of the throttle cable came loose from the crimped metal sleeve, which was part of the instrument panel fitting. Movement of the cockpit throttle control would not actuate the throttle arm of the carburetor. Records indicated that the airplane was manufactured in 1946 and the throttle cable appeared to be original. No entry indicating replacement of the cable was found in the airplane's maintenance records. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Aircraft-Aircraft power plant-Engine controls-Power lever-Failure - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2013_CEN13CA262.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (maintenance). All research papers