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ANC83LU001 · Waspair HM-81 TOMCAT TOUR HM-81 TOMC

20 Mar 1983 · CHUGIAK, AK, United States

Waspair HM-81 TOMCAT TOUR HM-81 TOMC · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb

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Event

NTSB case
ANC83LU001
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

Waspair HM-81 TOMCAT TOUR HM-81 TOMC

Aircraft type
Waspair HM-81
Category
Ultralight
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
UNREG
Operator
Micheal S. Lineker · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo not recorded
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 103: Ultralight
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
Loss of engine power
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
Tree(s)
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

  • Reason for occurrence undetermined

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

A TEST PLT & DEALER FOR THE MANUFACTURER INSPECTED THE ULTRALIGHT VEHICLE & MADE ADJUSTMENTS PRIOR TO MAKING A TEST FLIGHT AFTER IT WAS ASSEMBLED. HE STATED THAT BEFORE TAKEOFF, HE WAS HAVING PROBLEMS SETTING THE CARBURETOR MIXTURE & THAT THE THROTTLE CABLE WAS NOT WORKING WELL. DURING EARLIER TAXI TESTS, THE ENG CEASED OPERATING A NUMBER OF TIMES. FINALLY, ON THE LAST TAXI TEST, THE ENG OPERATED AT FULL RPM & HE ELECTED TO TAKEOFF. AFTER TAKEOFF, THE ULTRALIGHT CLIMBED TO ABOUT 100 FT AGL, THEN BEGAN TO LOSE POWER. THE PLT WAS UNABLE TO GLIDE TO A CLEARING & SUBSEQUENTLY CRASHED INTO TREES. THE VEHICLE REMAINED IN THE TREES & THE PLT REMAINED SECURE BY HIS LAP BELT & SHOULDER HARNESS. HOWEVER, AFTER HE RELEASED HIS RESTRAINT SYSTEM, HE WAS INJURED WHEN HE FELL APRX 40 FT TO THE GROUND. THE TEMP & DEW POINT WERE 40 & 36 DEG, RESPECTIVELY. ACCORDING TO ICING PROBABILITY CURVES, SERIOUS ICING WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE AT CRUISE POWER. HOWEVER, ICING WAS NOT VERIFIED. THERE WAS NO PROVISION FOR CARBURETOR HEAT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ANC83LU001
Event ID
20001214X42325
Case number
ANC83LU001
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: e277459b96f2832f546817fffbd6f39eaa5c01de58767e321076ec9299efc7de; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:59:50.344Z.