MIA96LA214

Factual narrative

On August 16, 1996, about 1910 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 150F, N7053F, registered to a private owner, operating as a 14 CFR Part 91, personal flight, crashed in the vicinity of Plant City, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The airplane was substantially damaged. The private pilot was not injured. The flight had taken off from runway 9, and had climbed to an altitude of about 150 feet mean sea level, when the airplane's engine lost power. The pilot elected to make an off airport landing, turned the airplane to the left to clear trees, touched down in a field, and nosed over. Examination of the wreckage by the FAA revealed that 2 ounces of fuel was drained from the gascolator, and about 3/4 of an ounce of the fuel was water. In addition, 1 ounce of water was drained from the carburetor bowl. The engine rotated freely and no discrepancies were found. According to the FAA inspector's statement, "...[this] aircraft [had] flown only 5 hours in over 12 months, [and was] not fueled since sometime in February 1996, possible engine failure due to fuel contamination." The flight had taken off from runway 9, and had climbed to an altitude of about 150 feet mean sea level, when the airplane's engine lost power. The pilot elected to make an off airport landing, turned the airplane to the left to clear trees, touched down in a field, and nosed over. Examination of the wreckage revealed that 2 ounces of fuel was drained from the gascolator, about 3/4 of an ounce of the fuel was water, and 1 ounce of water was drained from the carburetor bowl. The engine rotated freely and no discrepancies were found. In addition, this airplane had flown only 5 hours in the past 12 months, and had not been fueled, before this flight, since sometime in February 1996. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12