ATL95LA051 · Taylorcraft F19
Taylorcraft F19 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) while maneuvering
From Tullahoma Regional Airport William Northern Field (THA) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL95LA051
- 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
Taylorcraft F19
- Aircraft type
- Taylorcraft F19
- 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
- N20001
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Tullahoma Regional Airport William Northern Field (THA), TULLAMOMA, TNTo 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Accessory drive assembly, drive gear › Disconnected
- Engine accessories, engine starter › Seized
- Engine assembly, crankshaft › Other
- Lubricant, grease › Inadequate
- Miscellaneous, bolt/nut/fastener/clamp/spring › Failure, total
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT STATED THAT ABOUT 20 MINUTES AFTER TAKEOFF, WHILE MANEUVERING NEAR HIS RESIDENCE, THE AIRCRAFT ENGINE LOST POWER. HE MADE AN EMERGENCY LANDING IN A FIELD, BUT THE AIRPLANE HIT A FENCE AND ENCOUNTERED UNEVEN TERRAIN DURING THE LANDING. EXAMINATION OF THE ENGINE REVEALED THAT THE STARTER ROLLER CLUTCH, WHICH HAD BEEN INSTALLED IN THE AIRCRAFT IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE FLIGHT, HAD SEIZED. THE ROLLER CLUTCH WAS IN PLACE, BUT THE ROLLERS WERE FOUND TO HAVE MELTED AND HAD WELDED TO THE SHAFT. SUBSEQUENTLY, ALL FOUR OF THE CRANKSHAFT GEAR CAPSCREWS HAD FAILED, RESULTING IN DISENGAGEMENT OF THE CRANKSHAFT GEAR AND SUBSEQUENT POWER LOSS. A SERVICE BULLETIN (TELEDYNE CONTINENTAL M79-10) HAD BEEN ISSUED BY THE MANUFACTURER IN JUNE OF 1979 TO PROVIDE PRESSURIZED LUBRICATION OF THE ROLLER CLUTCH STARTERS, BUT THE SERVICE BULLETIN HAD NOT BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. THE ENGINE HAD BEEN SHIPPED FROM THE FACTORY ON 5/26/78 (BEFORE THE SERVICE BULLETIN WAS ISSUED). THE STARTER INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS DID NOT REQUIRE THAT THE SERVICE BULLETIN BE COMPLIED WITH BEFORE INSTALLATION OF THE STARTER. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THAT THE STARTER ROLLER CLUTCH LACKED ADEQUATE LUBRICATION.
Probable cause
A LACK OF LUBRICANT TO THE STARTER/ROLLER CLUTCH, SEIZURE OF THE STARTER, AND FAILURE OF THE FOUR CRANKSHAFT GEAR CAPSCREWS (BOLTS), WHICH RESULTED IN DISENGAGEMENT OF THE CRANKSHAFT (ACCESSORY) GEAR AND SUBSEQUENT LOSS OF ENGINE POWER.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL95LA051
- Event ID
- 20001207X02926
- Case number
- ATL95LA051
- 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: 51e55d941effcb9a7f8cb7c4b2f204452820a322796b6b2fb4c7455d5b71fd4e; retrieved 2026-09-23T00:15:39.810Z.