NTSB SEA90LA095 — 1990-06-10 · LA GRANDE, Oregon, United States

Aircraft involved

N9175Y GRACE LONG EZ Fatal

Probable cause & findings

LOSS OF ENGINE POWER DUE TO FUEL CONTAMINATION WHICH RESULTED FROM THE PILOT'S INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT INSPECTION OF THE AIRCRAFT.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT TOOK OFF ON RWY 34 AND WAS CLIMBING AT APPROX 40 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND WHEN THE ENGINE QUIT. THE AIRCRAFT IMPACTED UNIMPROVED TERRAIN OFF THE AIRPORT. POST-ACCIDENT TEST REVEALED THE AUTO FUEL IN THE AIRCRAFT WAS CONTAMINATED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_SEA90LA095.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (fuel contamination). All research papers

NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper Combined Contamination and Space Environmental Effects on Solar Cells and Thermal Control Surfaces

For spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO), contamination can occur from thruster fuel, sputter contamination products and from products of silicone degradation.