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NYC89LA078

1989-02-01 · KENNEBUNK, Maine, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport B19

N67561 has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (BELL 206B), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO ASSURE THE FUEL SELECTOR WAS PROPERLY POSITIONED WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL STARVATION AND THE SUBSEQUENT FORCED LANDING.

Factual narrative

SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF WHILE IN CRUISE AT 3,000 FEET A LOSS OF ENG POWER WAS EXPERIENCED. AN OFF AIRPORT FORCED LANDING WAS ATTEMPTED DURING WHICH THE ACFT CONTACTED TREES. THE ENG WAS TEST RUN SATISFACTORILY DURING POST ACCIDENT EXAM. THE FUEL SELECTOR WAS FOUND BETWEEN THE TWO TANK POSITIONS (FUEL WOULD NOT FLOW IN THIS POSITION), THE AUX BOOST PUMP WAS OFF AND FUEL WAS PRESENT IN BOTH TANKS. IN ADDITION, A WITNESS INDICATED THAT THE PILOT DID NOT CONDUCT A PREFLIGHT EXAM OF THE ACFT PRIOR TO TAKEOFF. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_NYC89LA078.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 (fuel starvation). All research papers