LAX99LA233 · Ercoupe (Eng & Research Corp.) E
Ercoupe (Eng & Research Corp.) E · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Jackpot Airport/Hayden Field (06U) to Winnemucca Municipal Airport (WMC)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX99LA233
- 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
Ercoupe (Eng & Research Corp.) E
- Aircraft type
- Ercoupe (eng Research E
- 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
- N3640H
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Jackpot Airport/Hayden Field (06U), Jackpot, NVTo Winnemucca Municipal Airport (WMC)
- 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 · cruise
- 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 (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
- Fuel system, carburetor › Excessive flow/output
- Unknown › Maintenance, installation, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot was flying about 6,500 feet agl when his engine dropped to 500 rpm. He manipulated the primer and the engine rpm began to fluctuate. The engine then quit. The pilot performed a forced landing in an open field and collided with ground obstructions. The aircraft was examined following the accident. The fuel tanks were about half full. The carburetor was examined further. When the carburetor was flow tested, fuel was seen dripping from the discharge nozzle after the fuel was turned on, indicating that the float needle was not seating properly, which could cause the engine to run excessively rich. The float needle was not properly torqued in the bowl assembly. Further, small pieces of brass appeared to have exfoliated around the top of the needle-seating surface. The needle appeared to have been altered from its original configuration. No other mechanical problems were noted with the aircraft or engine.
Probable cause
An improperly installed and maintained float needle in the carburetor, which would not seat sufficiently to stop fuel flow and caused the engine to run excessively rich, resulting in a complete loss of engine power.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX99LA233
- Event ID
- 20001212X19042
- Case number
- LAX99LA233
- 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: 038054c2449a2d494fc7c63b08570ec053103d3faa7cb86c724c010443692635; retrieved 2026-09-22T14:43:38.570Z.