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LAX91LA107

1991-02-12 · SAN LUIS OBISPO, California, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

N71T has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (EXPRESS ACFT CO LLC SERIES 2000, built 2004), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE FAILURE OF THE FUEL SYSTEM VENT CHECK VALVE, WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL STARVATION TO THE AIRCRAFT'S ENGINE.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT WAS PERFORMING THE INITIAL TEST FLIGHT ON HIS HOMEBUILT AIRCRAFT. AFTER EXECUTING SEVERAL APPROACHES WITHOUT ACTUALLY LANDING THE AIRCRAFT, THE PILOT DECIDED TO MAKE A FINAL APPROACH TO A FULL STOP. AT APPROXIMATELY 800 FEET AGL, THE AIRCRAFT'S ENGINE EXPERIENCED A TOTAL LOSS OF POWER. THE PILOT EXECUTED A FORCED LANDING TO A FIELD. EXAMINATION BY THE FAA REVEALED THAT THE AIRCRAFT HAD ADEQUATE FUEL SUPPLY, BUT THE ENGINE FAILED AS A RESULT OF FUEL STARVATION CAUSED BY A MALFUNCTIONING FUEL SYSTEM VENT CHECK VALVE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_LAX91LA107.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

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