Following an uneventful takeoff and straight-out departure, the pilot leveled the Corben Baby Ace D about 1,000 feet above ground level, at which point, the engine began to sputter, and it subsequently lost power.
The pilot initiated a return to the airport, however, due to the low altitude, he initiated a forced landing to a nearby field in Lincoln, Calif.
During the landing, the main landing gear collapsed, and the airplane nosed over.
Post-accident examination of the airplane revealed that the gascolator screen and fuel outlet port were partially restricted with red, sandlike debris, which would have restricted the fuel flow to the carburetor and led to the loss of engine power.
The NTSB determined the probable cause as the total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation, which resulted from debris restricting the fuel flow within the fuel system.
NTSB Identification: WPR15LA003
This October 2014 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
I know this aircraft and the pilot/ builder. He had struggled with what he thought were carburetor problems. If he had done a fuel flow test he would have noted an insufficient fuel flow.
I’ve done a worst case fuel flow test on my old Cessna and found slightly lower flow from the left tank, but still 1.5 times the required 12 gph. It is so easy to do that it should be done during the annual on older aircraft.
JimH: Your post is interesting. You said you “…know this aircraft and the pilot/ builder. He had struggled with what he thought were carburetor problems. …”
According to the accident report and the docket the owner hadn’t flown the aircraft for a long time. Neither the docket nor the accident report mentioned the age of the fuel in the tanks, nor the source of the fuel (a fuel system with all of the filters in place or gas cans with/without filters), nor what type of fuel (MoGas, 100LL, etc.) was in the tanks. Can you fill in any of these details? I was very surprised that none of this information was mentioned anywhere in the public document record. Given the nature of the root cause it seems like it would be relevant.
John, the pilot /owner’s hangar is across from mine. He had been working on the Baby Ace for a few years. I watched him recover the wings and fuselage… He only had the engine running for a few months trying to work out the problems with the carb. He swapped carbs 3 times to no avail. I guess he never looked at the gascolator; which was plumbed backwards, so the screen filled with sediment. Since it had fuel flowing in the wrong direction, it could not be seen by looking at the glass part of the gascolator.
Again, by simply disconnecting the fuel line from the carb. and timing how long it took to flow a few quarts would have shown the insufficient fuel flow. !
BTW, there are no filters in GA aircraft fuel systems, except for the gascolator, which has a fine mesh screen and can separate any water from the fuel.
The fuel type was no factor in this case.
Thank you for the link to the NTSB write up. For such a short NTSB report it would seem that to copy it intact would work just fine. I often go to the link anyway. In this case, as many others you publish, there is a some more detail which is useful.
Most pilots are able to read fairly well … yes ?
Keep Up The Great Work
Sounds familiar, even after testing at preflight, IT HAPPENED. Pilot in command fault per FAA, I had my ticket pulled ” failure to preflight ” Forced to do a “409 “