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NYC90LA081

1990-03-25 · LIMINGTON, Maine, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

FUEL STARVATION, DUE TO CARBURETOR CONTAMINATION, WHICH RESULTED IN A FORCED LANDING IN UNSUITABLE TERRAIN.

Factual narrative

AT AN ALTITUDE OF 500 FEET AGL THE AIRPLANE EXPERIENCED A TOTAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER. THE PILOT TURNED BACK TO THE AIRPORT, BUT WAS UNABLE TO GLIDE TO THE RUNWAY AND THE AIRPLANE STRUCK A TREE. THE FAA SAID 15 GALLONS OF FUEL WAS ADDED TO EACH TANK PRIOR TO TAKE OFF. THE FAA EXAMINATION OF THE ENGINE SHOWED NO DISCREPANCIES, EXCEPT FOR THE CARBURETOR. A DISASSEMBLY OF THE CARBURETOR SHOWED SLUDGE AND SEDIMENT WAS FOUND IN THE BOWL. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_NYC90LA081.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