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CHI83FA381

1983-08-11 · EVART, Michigan, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 9C8

N400NA has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CESSNA R182), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH A UTILITY POLE AND A LARGE TREE DURING A FORCED LANDING AFTER A POWER LOSS ON TAKEOFF. WITNESSES HEARD THE ACFT BACKFIRING AND THE GROUND RUN WAS EXCESSIVELY LONG. IMMEDIATELY AFTER TAKEOFF THE ACFT WENT THROUGH THE TOPS OF PINE TREES. THE BACKFIRING AND SMOKE STOPPED AFTER THE COLLISION WITH THE PINE TREES AND THE ACFT STARTED A DESCENT TOWARD A STREET. IT MANEUVERED AS IF TO AVOID A COLLISION WITH CARS. AFTER THE ACCIDENT THE SPARK PLUGS FROM THE RIGHT ENGINE WERE TESTED AND ALL BUT #5 FRONT PLUG WOULD NOT SPARK. HOWEVER DURING A SUBSEQUENT TEST THE SPARK PLUGSPLUGS, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF #5, DID TEST PROPERLY. A COMPLETE ENGINE TEARDOWN DID NOT REVEAL EVIDENCE OF MECHANICAL FAILURE OR PRE-IMPACT ENGINE DISCREPANCY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1983_CHI83FA381.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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