MIA97LA072 · Navion G
Navion G · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From X58 to Witham Field (SUA)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA97LA072
- 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
Navion G
- Aircraft type
- Navion G
- 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
- N2417T
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From X58To Witham Field (SUA), Stuart, FL
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot stated that he performed an engine run-up before departure with no discrepancies noted. After takeoff during the initial climb about 300 feet above ground level after retracting the landing gear, the engine experienced a sudden and complete loss of engine power. The pilot maneuvered the airplane to the right to avoid hangars and while descending, the airplane first collided with trees then the ground. Post accident examination of the fuel delivery and vent systems revealed no evidence of blockage. The fuel selector was in the 'main' tank detent with sufficient fuel and no contaminants noted. The gascolator was drained and found to contain only 3-4 tablespoons of fuel with no contaminants noted. The magneto switch and electrically operated auxiliary fuel pump operationally checked good post crash. The engine was removed and after replacement of impact damaged components, was started and found to operate normally using the engine driven fuel pump. No determination could be made as to the reason for the total loss of engine power. Follow-up investigation approximately 2 1/2 years after the accident determined the engine driven fuel pump was disassembled after the successful engine run. Airworthiness Directive (AD) 93-16-15 with an effective date of September 27, 1993, requiring replacement of the installed fuel pump drive coupling within 30 hours time in service from the effective date, was not complied with by the IA at the last annual inspection (May 1996); no entry was made indicating the AD was due in 30 hours. No annual inspections were performed and the airplane was not operated between the effective date of the AD and the May 1996, inspection. The AD was generated due to finding mechanical damage to the end of the drive couplings in seven engine driven fuel pumps, this condition was not evident in the accident fuel pump drive coupling. The airplane had accumulated approximately 38 hours time in service since the last annual inspection; 15.5 of which were by the accident pilot.
Probable cause
Total loss of engine power due to undetermined reasons. Contributing to the accident was the unsuitable terrain encountered during the forced landing. Findings of the follow-up investigation were 1) The airplane had not been operated and no annual inspections were performed between the effective date of Airworthiness Directive 93-16-15 and the date of the last annual inspection (May 1996), 2) AD 93-16-15 requiring replacement of the installed fuel pump drive coupling was not complied with by the IA at the last annual inspection and no entry was made in the maintenance records indicating compliance required within 30 hours time in service, 3) the pilot unknowingly operated the airplane approximately 8 hours past the 30 hour compliance time specified by the AD, and 4) the reason for the AD (mechanical damage to the fuel pump drive coupling), was not present in the accident fuel pump drive coupling.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA97LA072
- Event ID
- 20001208X07338
- Case number
- MIA97LA072
- 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: fdce6603d3ac9114ff7bb4d9ef3eb9a06dbf55850b67844c4fdfa705ca6d488f; retrieved 2026-09-21T12:14:27.011Z.