Probable Cause: The pilot’s lack of proper maintenance, which allowed the fuel filters to become obstructed, leading to fuel starvation and a subsequent engine power loss.
NTSB
Fuel exhaustion ends night flight
Probable Cause: A loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion as a result of the pilot’s inadequate preflight planning. Contributing to the accident were the unreliable fuel quantity gauges and the improperly adjusted mixture control, which increased the fuel consumption above that anticipated by the owner’s manual.
Cub’s propeller breaks during takeoff
Probable Cause: The inflight failure of the propeller blade due to fatigue cracking from corrosion pits.
Failure to discontinue unstabilized approach leads to crash
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to discontinue an unstabilized approach, resulting in an aerodynamic stall and collision with terrain.
Loss of control fatal for Piper pilot
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain airplane control during recovery from a bounced landing, which resulted in the exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack and an aerodynamic stall.
NTSB introduces new online portal for accident reports
Now pilots can submit NTSB Form 6120.1 on a phone or computer directly on the NTSB website, “providing a user-friendly option that also ends the need for investigators to manually input the information,” NTSB officials said.
Fuel contamination leads to total loss of engine power
Probable Cause: A total loss of engine power as a result of fuel contamination.
Human Factors: Certified, not qualified
As it becomes harder to find a CFI, pilots may find they are waiting quite a while for flight training. But a long wait is much better than watching a brand-new airplane broken to pieces right in front of your eyes before you’ve even made the first payment.
Failure to use carb heat after extended ground delay leads to forced landing
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to use carburetor heat during an extended ground delay before takeoff, which resulted in a total loss of engine power during initial climb due to carburetor ice.