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BFO94LA128 · Hankins/Dickerson CLIPPED WINGS II CLIPPED WI

9 Aug 1994 · Laurel, MD, United States

Hankins/Dickerson CLIPPED WINGS II CLIPPED WI · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) on approach

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Event

NTSB case
BFO94LA128
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
General aviation
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Hankins/Dickerson CLIPPED WINGS II CLIPPED WI

Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N4287R
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo not recorded
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 91: General Aviation
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Approach
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Total loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Ignition system › Failure, partial

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT WAS ON A FLIGHT TO TEST THE OPERATION EFFICIENCY OF THE PROPELLER WHICH HE PLANNED TO REPLACE. HE INTENDED TO REMAIN IN THE TRAFFIC PATTERN FOR THE FLIGHT. THE PILOT STATED THE FLIGHT FROM TAKEOFF THROUGH POSITIONING FOR FINAL LEG WAS WITHOUT INCIDENT. ACCORDING TO THE PILOT, 'ON FINAL APPROACH THE ENGINE SUDDENLY SPUTTERED TO A STOP. UPON NOTICING TH FALTERING (ENGINE) I IMMEDIATELY GAVE IT FULL CHOKE AND PULLED BACK THE THROTTLE BACK THE THROTTLE IN ORDER TO ENRICH THE FUEL FLOW. I DID THIS IN CASE I HAD A FUEL PROBLEM. THIS PROCEDURE HAD NO EFFECT, THE ENGINE COASTED TO A COMPLETE STOP. I THEN PUT THE THROTTLE IN A START POSITION AND CLOSED THE CHOKE TO INITIATE A NORMAL WARM ENGINE START. I PRESSED THE ELECTRIC STARTER BUTTON. THE ENGINE TURNED OVER BUT GAVE NO INDICATION OF STARTING.' THE PILOT WAS UNABLE TO GLIDE THE DISTANCE TO THE AIRPORT AND THE AIRPLANE STRUCK THE ROOF OF HOUSE. POST ACCIDENT EXAMINATION OF THE ENGINE REVEALED THE CAPACITOR DISCHARGE UNIT OF THE IGNITION SYSTEM HAD FAILED.

Probable cause

THE FAILURE OF THE ENGINE IGNITION SYSTEM CAPACITOR DISCHARGE UNIT WHICH CAUSED LOSS OF TOTAL ENGINE POWER.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record BFO94LA128
Event ID
20001206X01955
Case number
BFO94LA128
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 0f02e6def772b30e8160d5bc29a8dfd80680490cd0a56e119691310806ce224c; retrieved 2026-09-21T13:42:26.194Z.