ANC93LA001 · Champion 7EC
Champion 7EC · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From an unrecorded airport to Manley Hot Springs Airport (MLY)
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC93LA001
- 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
Champion 7EC
- Aircraft type
- Champion 7
- 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
- N4392C
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Manley Hot Springs Airport (MLY), MANLEY HOT SPGS, AK
- 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)
- 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
- Fuel system › Ice
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A FERRY PILOT AND THE PURCHASER OF THE AIRPLANE ARRIVED TO ACCEPT IT FROM THE SELLER AND FOUND THE ENGINE ALREADY RUNNING. THE AIRCRAFT HAD SAT OUTDOORS WITH EMPTY FUEL TANKS FOR 3 MOS. THE ENGINE REPORTEDLY BACKFIRED SEVERAL TIMES, AND QUIT ONCE, DURING RUNUP. THERE WAS REPORTEDLY NO INSPECTION TO DETERMINE THE SOURCE OF ENGINE ROUGHNESS. THE SELLER REPORTEDLY TOLD THE BUYER THAT THE ENGINE IS TYPICALLY 'COLD STARTING.' THE FERRY PILOT THEN TOOK OFF AND EXPERIENCED AN ABRUPT POWER LOSS AT 150 FT, AND THE AIRPLANE CRASHED DURING THE FORCED LANDING. THE PILOT STATED THAT THE TEMPERATURE AT THE TIME OF TAKEOFF WAS 'RIGHT AT FREEZING.'
Probable cause
THE PILOT-IN COMMAND'S INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT INSPECTION WHICH RESULTED IN A POWER LOSS DUE TO ICE IN THE FUEL SYSTEM.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC93LA001
- Event ID
- 20001211X15794
- Case number
- ANC93LA001
- 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 1992-10-02.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 15cf509285ef17685b669a8a5962c9a478f5b6e0542625652769846719882684; retrieved 2026-09-23T02:34:41.618Z.