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CHI93LA147

1993-04-23 · MIDDLE RIVER, Minnesota, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

N81HF has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (FAIRBROTHER HENRY P SA-300, built 2023), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE TOTAL FAILURE OF THE IGNITION SYSTEM'S MAGNETO.

Factual narrative

DURING CRUISE FLIGHT, THE PILOT EXPERIENCED A SLIGHT MISS IN THE ENGINE PRIOR TO A TOTAL LOSS OF POWER. TRYING TO AVOID POWERLINES IN FRONT OF HIM, THE PILOT TURNED THE AIRCRAFT 180 DEGREES INTO THE WIND, BUT WASN'T ABLE TO PICK UP ENOUGH SPEED FOR A GOOD AUTO-ROTATION AND IMPACTED THE GROUND. FURTHER INVESTIGATION FOUND THE IGNITION VIBRATOR, PART NUMBER 10-382780-12, WAS INOPERATIVE, CAUSING THE ENGINE FAILURE. A MECHANIC FILED AND ADJUSTED THE POINTS IN THE VIBRATOR, AND WAS THEN ABLE TO OBTAIN AND PROVIDE SPARK TO THE SPARKPLUGS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1993_CHI93LA147.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 (engine failure). All research papers