NYC88LA002

1987-10-06 · NEWPORT, Vermont, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport EFK

Aircraft involved

N39857 Bellanca 17-30A Serious

Factual narrative

SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, THE ENG LOST POWER AS THE ACFT WAS CLIMBING THRU ABOUT 75' AGL. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT WAS DAMAGED DURING AN EMERG LANDING. AN EXAM REVEALED THE ACFT HAD A VERY LOOSELY FITTING FUEL CAP & WATER WAS FOUND IN THE FUEL LINES & SUMPS. THE PLT SAID HE HAD CHECKED THE FUEL DURING THE PREFLIGHT, BUT APPARENTLY THE SAMPLES WERE ALL WATER WHICH HE MISTOOK AS FUEL. THE ACDNT OCCURRED AFTER RECENT HEAVY RAINFALL. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1987_NYC88LA002.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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