LAX91LA239 · Maule M-4-220C
Maule M-4-220C · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From an unrecorded airport to San Carlos Airport (SQL)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX91LA239
- 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
Maule M-4-220C
- Aircraft type
- Maule M-4
- 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
- N40693
- Operator
- Andre D. Baury · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo San Carlos Airport (SQL), San Carlos, CA
- 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)
- 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
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A MAULE M-4-220C COLLIDED WITH A FOUR FOOT HIGH DIRT BANK AFTER A LOSS OF ENGINE POWER DURING TAKEOFF. THE PILOT REPORTED THE ENGINE POWER WAS SURGING DURING THE INITIAL TAKEOFF CLIMB. AT 75 FT AGL THE ENGINE STOPPED. THE ENGINE STARTED AND RAN WITHOUT ANY MALFUNCTIONS DURING A POST ACCIDENT EXAM. THE PILOT SUSPECTED POSSIBLE WATER IN THE FUEL OR SEDIMENTS TEMPORARILY BLOCKING A FUEL LINE. THE AIRPLANE WAS LAST FLOWN 1 WEEK EARLIER FOR 1 HR AND 15 MIN. FUELING RECORDS ESTABLISHED THAT THE AIRPLANE WAS FUELED WITH 8.9 GALLONS OF AVIATION FUEL AFTER THE FLIGHT. THE FUEL CONSUMPTION FOR THE ENGINE AVERAGES IN EXCESS OF 12 GAL/HR. THE FAA RECOMMENDS THAT THE FUEL TANKS BE COMPLETELY FILLED AFTER EACH FLIGHT, OR AT LEAST AFTER THE LAST FLIGHT OF THE DAY. THE REASON IS THAT WHEN AIR IN THE FUEL TANK COOLS, THE MOISTURE IT CONTAINS CONDENSES INTO WATER, AND CONTAMINATES THE FUEL. PILOTS SHOULD TAKE THE NECESSARY STEPS TO ELIMINATE IT DURING PREFLIGHT INSPECTION.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND TO PERFORM AN ADEQUATE PREFLIGHT INSPECTION BY TAKING THE NECESSARY STEPS TO ELIMINATE WATER CONTAMINATION OF THE AIRPLANE'S FUEL SYSTEM.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX91LA239
- Event ID
- 20001212X17295
- Case number
- LAX91LA239
- 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: 27bc0a2a0e9d912565a62aee0649fc45dfff4fd38ebc93f20995f8142e1404d8; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:34:41.073Z.