Skip to content

SEA92LA184

1992-08-19 · MATTAWA, Washington, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

LOSS OF ENGINE POWER DUE TO FUEL CONTAMINATION AS A RESULT OF INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE BY THE OPERATOR. A FACTOR CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS SOFT TERRAIN.

Factual narrative

FIFTEEN MINUTES INTO AN AERIAL APPLICATION FLIGHT THE ENGINE BEGAN RUNNING ROUGH AND BACKFIRING. THE PILOT DIVERTED TO A NEARBY AIRSTRIP AND EN ROUTE THE ENGINE CEASED OPERATING. DURING THE SUBSEQUENT FORCED LANDING THE CONVENTIONALLY GEARED AIRCRAFT NOSED OVER AS IT ROLLED OUT ON SOFT TERRAIN. EXAMINATION OF THE ENGINE REVEALED NO MECHANICAL MALFUNCTION. EXAMINATION OF THE MAIN FUEL FILTER REVEALED DEBRIS WITHIN THE FILTER CARTRIDGE AND EVIDENCE OF RUST. LIKEWISE, AN EXAMINATION OF THE CARBURETOR FUEL FILTER DISCLOSED SIMILAR INTERNAL DEBRIS BUILDUP. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1992_SEA92LA184.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, maintenance). All research papers