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NYC90FA077

1990-03-14 · FORTY FORT, Pennsylvania, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport WBW

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

LOSS OF ENGINE POWER FOR AN UNKNOWN REASON, AND FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED, WHILE MANEUVERING, WHICH RESULTED IN AN INADVERTENT STALL.

Factual narrative

AS THE PLT & PLT RATED PASSENGER WERE DEPARTING THE ARPT, THE ENG LOST POWER AT ABOUT 300 TO 600 FT AGL. THE ACFT BEGAN TO TURN TO THE RIGHT, THEN IT ENTERED A STEEP DESCENT & CRASHED. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION OF OF THE ACFT OR ENG WAS FOUND. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE ACFT HAD BEEN SERVICED WITH AUTO FUEL. A CHECK OF THE FUEL ABOUT 24 HRS AFTER THE ACDNT REVEALED A REID VAPOR PRESSURE (RVP) OF 11.8. ACCORDING TO THE SUPPLIER, THE AUTO FUEL CONSISTED OF 17.5% WINTER GRADE FUEL & 82.5% SUMMER GRADE FUEL. AVIATION FUEL HAS AN RVP OF 5.5 TO 7 & IS LESS SUSCEPTIBLE TO VAPOR LOCK. ACCORDING TO THE ACFT LOG, THE ACFT HAD BEEN MODIFIED IAW STC SA2010CE & SE1931CE FOR USE OF AUTO FUEL, BUT AN ID CLAMP & PLACARDS WERE NOT INSTALLED, AS REQUIRED. THE CARB FLOAT WAS MADE OF A COMPOSITE MATERIAL. THE TEMP & DEW POINT WERE 80 & 50 DEG, RESPECTIVELY. ACCORDING TO CARB ICING CHARTS, SERIOUS CARB ICING COULD HAVE OCCURRED AT GLIDE POWER & VISIBLE ICING WAS POSSIBLE AT RATED POWER. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_NYC90FA077.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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