FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

NYC95LA112 · Helio H-250

18 May 1995 · Clarkson, NY, United States

Helio H-250 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb

From Hawks Field (8NY8) to an unrecorded destination

Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
NYC95LA112
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

Helio H-250

Aircraft type
Helio H-250
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
N5460E
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Hawks Field (8NY8)To 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
Initial climb
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
Partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
Fuel starvation
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

  • Fluid, fuel › Starvation
  • Fuel system, pump › Failure

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Clarkson, NY, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT DEPARTED ON A LOCAL FLIGHT WITH THREE PASSENGERS. THE ENGINE START, TAXI, AND INITIAL TAKEOFF WERE NORMAL. AS THE AIRPLANE FLEW OVER THE END OF THE RUNWAY AT 50 TO 75 FEET, THE ENGINE LOST POWER. THE PILOT INITIATED A TURN BACK TO THE AIRPORT, DUE TO TREES DIRECTLY AHEAD. AT THE COMPLETION OF THE TURN, THE RIGHT WING STRUCK THE GROUND. AN EXAMINATION REVEALED THE ENGINE FUEL PUMP, MANUFACTURED PRIOR TO 1978, HAD FAILED DUE TO A WORN ROD SLOT AND LINK ARM. THE AIRPLANE WAS EQUIPPED WITH AN ELECTRIC BOOST PUMP; HOWEVER, THE AIRPLANE MANUAL DID NOT DIRECT OR DISCUSS THE USE OF THE BOOST PUMP, AND THE BOOST PUMP HAD NOT BEEN TURNED ON FOR THIS FLIGHT.

Probable cause

Failure of the engine fuel pump, which resulted in fuel starvation and loss of engine power over an unsuitable landing area. Factors relating to the accident were: the airplane manufacture did not list the use of the installed electric boost pumps, nor did the pilot turn on the boost pump, once the engine lost power.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC95LA112
Event ID
20001207X03536
Case number
NYC95LA112
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: 0ead007c68a6bc07df243fb70525e7111a4a8dbe2523792a0288795f3ae032db; retrieved 2026-09-21T22:19:02.837Z.