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CHI89DET05

1989-05-21 · NILES, Michigan, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 3TR

N305BJ has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CESSNA 305A, built 1951), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

LOOSE CARBURETOR(S) DUE TO IMPROPER MAINTENANCE/INSTALLATION, WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL STARVATION AND LOSS OF ENGINE POWER; AND FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED WHILE MANEUVERING FOR A FORCED LANDING, WHICH RESULTED IN AN INADVERTENT STALL AND SUBSEQUENT IMPACT WITH THE GROUND.

Factual narrative

WITNESSES RPRTD THE ACFT'S ENG LOST POWER DURING A TURN ONTO BASE LEG. THE ACFT WAS THEN MANEUVERED IN A 360 DEG TURN, AS IF TO LAND IN A FIELD. AS IT WAS BEING MANEUVERED, IT ENTERED A STEEP DESCENT & IMPACTED THE GROUND. A POST-ACDNT EXAM REVEALED THAT BOTH CARBURETORS WERE LOOSE. CONFIGURATION OF THE ENG REQUIRED THAT EACH CARBURETOR BE SECURED WITH 2 CLAMPS. ONLY 3 OF THE 4 CLAMPS WERE FOUND DESPITE AN EXTENSIVE SEARCH. THE HOME BUILT ACFT WAS ON ITS 3RD FLT & WAS BEING FLOWN FROM AN EAA FLY-IN BY THE 2 BUILDERS WHEN THE ACDNT OCCURRED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_CHI89DET05.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, fuel starvation, maintenance). All research papers