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CHI91LA256

1991-08-11 · VALPARAISO, Indiana, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport VPZ

N45WB has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CESSNA 180C, built 1960), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT IN COMMAND'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN AIRSPEED. A FACTOR CONTRIBUTING WAS IMPROPER MAINTENANCE (DESIGN CHANGE) PERFORMED BY AN UNQUALIFIED PERSON (PILOT IN COMMAND).

Factual narrative

DURING INITIAL CLIMB THE AIRCRAFT SUSTAINED A TOTAL LOSS OF POWER. WHILE IN A TURN TO AN EMERGENCY LANDING AREA THE AIRCRAFT STALLED AND ENTERED A SPIN IMPACTING THE TERRAIN. SUBSEQUENT INVESTIGATION FOUND A FOREIGN SUBSTANCE BLOCKING THE MAIN METERING ORIFICE IN THE CARBURETOR WHICH HAD MIGRATED FROM A MISSING GASKET ON THE DRAIN PLUG. THE PILOT INDICATED THAT HE HAD USED A SUBSTITUTE MATERIAL FOR REPLACEMENT OF THE MISSING GASKET. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_CHI91LA256.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, maintenance). All research papers