NYC94LA006 · Cessna T210F
Cessna T210F · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC94LA006
- 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
Cessna T210F
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 210
- 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
- N6773R
- Operator
- Unknown
- 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
- 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
- Loss of engine power
- 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 contamination
- 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
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, inspection, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE AIRPLANE HAD NOT BEEN FLOWN IN 11 MONTHS AND IT HAD BEEN 22 MONTHS SINCE THE LAST ANNUAL INSPECTION. A SPECIAL PERMIT HAD BEEN ISSUED BY THE FAA TO ALLOW THE AIRPLANE TO BE FERRIED. THE FUEL TANKS HAD NOT BEEN SERVICED IN SEVERAL MONTHS. THE PILOT PREFLIGHTED THE AIRPLANE WITH A MECHANIC. THE MECHANIC HAD INSPECTED THE AIRPLANE 2 DAYS PRIOR TO THE FLIGHT AND RAN THE ENGINE FOR ABOUT 40 MINUTES. HE REMOVED DEBRIS FROM UNDER THE COWLING AND WATER FROM THE SUMPS. THE PILOT FOUND WATER IN THE DRAINS AND CONTINUED DRAINING THE SUMPS AND THE GASCOLATOR, UNTIL NO CONTAMINATION WAS OBSERVED. THE PILOT RAN THE ENGINE FOR ABOUT 10 MINUTES, FOLLOWED BY A NORMAL TAKEOFF. AT 300 FEET AGL THE ENGINE LOST POWER. THE PILOT TURNED TO A FORCED LANDING AREA. ENGINE POWER RETURNED AND THE PILOT ATTEMPTED TO RETURN TO THE AIRPORT. THE ENGINE LOST POWER AGAIN AND THE PILOT ATTEMPTED A LANDING ON THE AIRPORT. THE AIRPLANE TOUCHED DOWN ON SOD, ROLLED OUT, AND STRUCK A GRASS KNOLL. POST ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION REVEALED WATER AND FUEL IN THE LINES AND 1 1/2 INCHES OF WATER IN THE GASCOLATOR. THE ENGINE WAS STARTED AND RAN NORMALLY.
Probable cause
The mechanic's inadequate inspection and the pilot's inadequate preflight inspection which failed to detect water-contaminated fuel, resulting in a loss of engine power and a forced landing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC94LA006
- Event ID
- 20001211X13634
- Case number
- NYC94LA006
- 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: defdf16c951e3ccf82fbf4b8ad9338fed00f4aa4a68c81463febe9ad93fd035e; retrieved 2026-09-23T01:33:11.435Z.