NTSB CAROL · Event
Event FTW87FA170
Aircraft involved
Factual narrative
ON THE THIRD TOUCH AND GO LANDING, WHILE ON THE DOWNWIND LEG OF THE APPROACH, THE PILOT SWITCHED FUEL TANKS AND SHORTLY THEREAFTER THE ENGINE FAILED. THE PILOT ATTEMPTED 3 TO 4 TIMES TO RESTART THE ENGINE BY SWITCHING FUEL TANKS AND ACTIVATING THE BOOST PUMP. THE ENGINE STARTED ONCE BUT FAILED AGAIN. THE PILOT MADE A FORCED LANDING IN A FIELD, STRIKING THE LEFT WING ON A FENCE POST AND COLLAPSING THE LANDING GEAR. FUEL WAS FOUND IN BOTH TANKS, HOWEVER, THE AUX TANK AND THE ENG FUEL DISTRIBUTER WERE FOUND EMPTY. THE CFI STATED DURING AN INTERVIEW AFTER THE ACCD THAT HE WAS NOT SURE WHICH FUEL TANK WAS SELECTED WHEN THE ENG FAILED. THE ENG RAN SATISFACTORILY DURING A POST-ACCD RUN-UP, HOWEVER, WHEN THE FUEL SELECTOR WAS SWITCHED TO THE OFF OR AUX POSITIONS THE ENG WOULD STOP AFTER ABOUT 1 MINUTE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1987_FTW87FA170.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.