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NYC92LA051

1991-12-26 · STRATFORD, Connecticut, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport BDR

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

WATER/ICE IN THE FUEL SYSTEM, WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL STARVATION AND A LOSS OF ENGINE POWER. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: FREEZING TEMPERATURES AND INADEQUATE PRE-FLIGHT PREPARATION BY THE PILOT.

Factual narrative

SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, THE PILOT RADIOED THAT HE HAD A PROBLEM. ATC CLEARED HIM TO LAND ON ANY RUNWAY. THE PILOT SAID, '. . . I DON'T THINK I CAN MAKE THAT (AIRPORT), I SEE THE HIGHWAY BELOW.' THE AIRPLANE LANDED AT AN ANGLE TO THE SOUTHBOUND LANES OF INTERSTATE HIGHWAY I-95 AND HIT A GUARD RAIL AND THE CENTER CEMENT BARRIERS. EXAMINATION OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED THAT THE FUEL SELECTOR WAS POSITIONED TO THE LEFT MAIN FUEL TANK. PIECES OF ICE WERE REMOVED FROM THE LEFT MAIN FUEL TANK, THE FUEL SELECTOR VALVE, AND THE FUEL STRAINER SEDIMENT BOWL. THE AIRPLANE WAS LAST REFUELED ON 10/27/91, WITH 53.9 GALLONS OF 100 OCTANE FUEL. THERE WAS NO RECORD FOUND TO INDICATE THE AIRPLANE HAD BEEN FLOWN SINCE THE LAST REFUELING ON THAT DATE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_NYC92LA051.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