FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

SEA92LA062 · North American NAVION

15 Mar 1992 · ELBE, WA, United States

North American NAVION · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route

From Grant County International Airport (MWH) to OLY · Olympia, WA

Show on map Search Wikipedia NTSB source dataset
Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
SEA92LA062
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
Instrument Meteorological Cond

North American NAVION

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
N4021K
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Grant County International Airport (MWH), Moses Lake, WATo OLY · Olympia, WA
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
En route · descent
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
Fuel starvation; 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
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Fluid, fuel › Improper
  • Fluid, fuel › Starvation
  • Pilot in command › Aircraft service, improper
  • Pilot in command › Clearance, not possible

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

SHORTLY AFTER COMMENCING A DESCENT, AND SEVERAL MINUTES AFTER SWITCHING FROM THE 'AUX' TO 'MAIN' FUEL TANKS, THE FUEL PRESSURE DROPPED TO ZERO AND THE ENGINE QUIT. THE PILOT WAS UNABLE TO ACCOMPLISH A RESTART AND EXECUTED A FORCED LANDING. UPON BREAKING OUT OF A 500 FOOT OVERCAST DURING DUSK CONDITIONS AND OVER AN OCCUPIED ROAD AND WOODED TERRAIN, THE PILOT MANEUVERED THE AIRCRAFT AWAY FROM THE ROAD TOWARDS THE ONLY SUITABLE LANDING AREA AVAILABLE. THE AIRCRAFT COLLIDED WITH TREES DURING THIS MANEUVER. POST CRASH EXAMINATION BY THE FAA REVEALED NO MECHANICAL MALFUNCTION WITHIN THE FUEL SYSTEM. THE PILOT REPORTED DEPARTING MOSES LAKE, WASHINGTON, WITH 20 GALLONS OF 80/87 OCTANE FUEL IN THE 'AUX' FUEL TANK AND A 50/50 MIX OF 100 LOW LEAD AND AUTOMOTIVE GASOLINE IN THE 'MAIN' TANK. RESEARCH INTO THE ISSUANCE OF AN STC FOR AUTOMOTIVE GASOLINE IN THE NAVION WAS NOT PURSED DUE TO A FINDING OF 'SEVERE VAPOR LOCK' DURING ITS USE.

Probable cause

FUEL STARVATION, IMPROPER FUEL, IMPROPER AIRCRAFT SERVICING (FUELING), AND CLEARANCE NOT POSSIBLE. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: NO SUITABLE TERRAIN, LOW CEILINGS, DUSK AND TREES.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record SEA92LA062
Event ID
20001211X14353
Case number
SEA92LA062
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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1992-03-16.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 4a8c8e6338ec70f0dbcfe6ca99a2a1f9f59cd47626f0e68896d33a217763bf36; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:19:50.651Z.