CHI92LA162 · Commander C3C
Sangamon Packet Commander C3C · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb
From 3GV to Chanute Martin Johnson Airport (CNU)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI92LA162
- 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
Commander C3C
- Aircraft type
- Commander C3
- 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
- N136E
- Operator
- Sangamon Packet
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From 3GVTo Chanute Martin Johnson Airport (CNU), Chanute, KS
- 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
- Partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
- 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
- Induction air control, cable › Jammed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT STATED THERE WAS A LOSS OF ENGINE POWER SHORTLY AFTER LIFT-OFF, AND HE WAS UNABLE TO MAINTAIN ALTITUDE. THE AIRPLANE IMPACTED TREES AND RISING TERRAIN ABOUT 1/2 MILE FROM THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY. POST-ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE CHOKE PLATE IN THE CARBURETOR WAS STUCK 3/4 CLOSED DUE TO A KINK IN THE CHOKE CONTROL CABLE NEAR THE CONTROL HANDLE IN THE COCKPIT. THE ENGINE HAD ACCUMULATED 40 HOURS SINCE A MAJOR OVERHAUL COMPLETED AUGUST 15, 1991.
Probable cause
THE JAMMED (KINKED) CHOKE PLATE CONTROL CABLE, WHICH RESULTED IN REDUCED POWER AND COLLISION WITH RISING TERRAIN.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI92LA162
- Event ID
- 20001211X14803
- Case number
- CHI92LA162
- 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: fa426d0b97ba2a7af08f0b04e3b6e18a91b85c7b106b603b2b49e8d9214dace3; retrieved 2026-09-21T14:57:14.077Z.