LAX01FA027 · Grumman American AA-5A

The airplane collided with an electrical line during an off airport forced landing following a loss of engine power. The pilot was doing a test flight after completion of some cylinder and carburetor work. He took off once and put it back on the ground, because he wanted to make sure everything was working fine. He did a run-up, checked the instruments, and took off again. At 400 feet the engine lost power and he could not return to the airport. The airplane sustained substantial damage and caught fire when it came to rest after contacting the wires. The throttle and mixture handles were full forward. The primer was in the locked position. The carburetor heat handle was forward in the off (cold) position. The magneto switch was in the both position. The fuel pump switch was in the on position. The fuel selector valve was in the right position. The wing fuel tanks were breached and the fuel sump contained water. Investigators disconnected the fuel inlet line to the carburetor, blew into the line, and did not hear or see any leaks in the lines or at the fuel selector valve. The electric fuel pump and its attached fuel lines sustained thermal damage and were partially consumed by the post crash fire. The carburetor sustained thermal damage and could not be tested due to melted material, which clogged the fuel inlet and obstructed the float needle. Both magnetos sustained thermal damage and one sustained mechanical damage. The internal components of both magnetos were in good condition and appeared to have accrued a low number of hours. A serviceable housing cover, which included a distributor lock and capacitor, was attached to the unit that only sustained thermal damage. The magneto produced and sustained a normal running spark from 350 rpm through 2,800 rpm.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset