CHI95LA183 · Piper PA-28-180
Piper PA-28-180 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during takeoff
From an unrecorded airport to Middletown Regional Airport (MWO)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI95LA183
- 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
Piper PA-28-180
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- 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
- N5195L
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Middletown Regional Airport (MWO), MIDDLETON, OH
- 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
- Takeoff · roll/run
- 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
- Stall/mush
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Ignition system, magneto › Timing improper
- Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, performed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF WITNESSES OBSERVED THE AIRPLANE IN A HIGH PITCH-UP ATTITUDE, YAWING LEFT AND RIGHT. ONE WITNESS, AN AIRFRAME AND POWERPLANT MECHANIC, SAID THE ENGINE SOUNDED AS THOUGH IT WAS NOT PRODUCING FULL POWER. AFTER GAINING ABOUT 100 TO 200 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND, THE AIRPLANE ROLLED INTO A 90 DEGREE BANK AND DESCENDED INTO SWAMPY TERRAIN. FLIGHT CONTROL CABLE CONTINUITY WAS ESTABLISHED. THE CARBURETOR HAD BROKEN AWAY FROM THE INTAKE MANIFOLD AND HAD BEEN SUBMERGED IN SWAMP WATER. EXAMINATION OF THE MAGNETOS REVEALED THE RIGHT MAGNETO TIMING HAD BEEN 8 DEGREES BEFORE TOP DEAD CENTER; THE MANUFACTURER'S RECOMMENDED SETTING IS 26 DEGREES BEFORE TOP DEAD CENTER. THE LEFT MAGNETO TIMING WAS SET AT THIS NUMBER. THE RIGHT MAGNETO WAS RETIMED TO THE MANUFACTURER'S PRESCRIBED SETTING. THE ENGINE RUNUP WAS ACCOMPLISHED USING ITS MAGNETOS AND A FACTORY CARBURETOR. THE ENGINE AND CARBURETOR WERE EXAMINED AT THEIR RESPECTIVE MANUFACTURERS; BOTH WERE FOUND TO OPERATE WITHIN THE MANUFACTURER'S SPECIFICATIONS.
Probable cause
the pilot operating the airplane with a known deficiency. A factor was the pilot not maintaining control of the airplane.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI95LA183
- Event ID
- 20001207X03665
- Case number
- CHI95LA183
- 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: 8aa5ec8086a22eb57406a80e0a6a20d19d6ac53a78dc8f866e335cbcce722c44; retrieved 2026-09-21T13:13:31.387Z.