SEA92LA063 · Bellanca 17-31A
Bellanca 17-31A · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Portland Troutdale Airport (TTD) to Eugene Airport (EUG)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA92LA063
- 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
Bellanca 17-31A
- Aircraft type
- Bellanca 17
- 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
- N8266R
- Operator
- Bash, Gail S. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Portland Troutdale Airport (TTD), Portland, ORTo Eugene Airport (EUG), Eugene, OR
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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
- 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
- Pilot in command › Fuel boost pump selector position, improper
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT OF THE BELLANCA 17-31A WAS ON FINAL APPROACH WHEN THE ENGINE LOST ALL POWER AND THE FUEL PRESSURE WENT TO ZERO. AT THAT TIME HE WAS BURNING FUEL OUT OF THE LEFT AUXILIARY TANK (THE FLIGHT MANUAL DIRECTS PILOTS TO USE ONLY THE MAIN TANKS FOR TAKEOFF AND LANDING, AND SAYS TO USE THE AUXILIARY TANKS IN LEVEL FLIGHT ONLY). HE TRIED TO RESTART THE ENGINE BY SWITCHING TO ONE OF THE MAIN TANKS. WHEN THIS WAS NOT SUCCESSFUL HE THEN SWITCHED TO THE OTHER MAIN TANK. WHEN THE ENGINE WOULD NOT RESTART, HE LANDED IN AN OPEN FIELD, BUT FLIPPED OVER ON LANDING ROLL AFTER HITTING A DITCH. THE PILOT DID NOT ACTIVATE THE AUXILIARY FUEL PUMP AS CALLED FOR BY THE FLIGHT MANUAL WHEN ATTEMPTING TO RESTART THE ENGINE AFTER THE FUEL PRESSURE IS LOST.
Probable cause
AN IMPROPER FUEL BOOST PUMP SELECTOR POSITION, AND INCORRECT PROCEDURES. FACTORS INCLUDE AN IMPROPER FUEL TANK SELECTOR POSITION, AND FUEL STARVATION.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA92LA063
- Event ID
- 20001211X14354
- Case number
- SEA92LA063
- 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: 3c3d0ae18c0c88983c56339dcfd3b8cc5d0979472e74af50d191ddf2e0e53a9b; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:19:47.477Z.