SEA01LA115 · Beech E35
Beech E35 · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb
From Eastsound, WA to Roche Harbor, WA
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA01LA115
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Beech E35
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 35
- 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
- N7362B
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Eastsound, WATo Roche Harbor, WA
- 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
- 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
- Fuel system, pump › Failure, total
- Miscellaneous, bolt/nut/fastener/clamp/spring › Worn
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
Shortly after takeoff, at about 150 feet above ground level, the engine suddenly lost power. The pilot was unable to restart the engine and turned the aircraft toward a clearing. The aircraft stalled just before colliding with trees and subsequently the ground. During the engine examination, it was found that the engine driven fuel pump was loose at the base of the pump, and the splined shaft of the pump was not properly engaged in the pump. The drive pin was not properly engaged and the snap ring securing the seal spring retainer and spring from extending beyond the end of the shaft was not secured around the end of the rotor. A section from the end of the rotor was broken off. Metallurgical examination of the fuel pump components revealed that the seal spring retainer snap ring was severely worn and when assembled in place on the rotor, would barely keep the seal spring retainer on the shaft end of the rotor. The rotor fracture was typical of overstress. The mechanic who last inspected the fuel pump reported that during the inspection of the fuel pump drive pin, he did not disassemble the components as indicated in the accomplishment instructions of a service letter by the engine manufacture that he was using nor the Service Bulletin published by the fuel pump manufacturer. The mechanic reported that he did not remove the snap ring to gain access to the drive pin for the drive pin inspection, nor did he replace any of the fuel pump components. The Service Bulletin, in a note under assembly of the pump, states to not reuse the snap ring.
Probable cause
Failure of the engine driven fuel pump due to a worn snap ring which resulted in a loss of engine power during initial climb. Failure to comply with Service Bulletin inspection instructions, and collision with trees were factors.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA01LA115
- Event ID
- 20010618X01190
- Case number
- SEA01LA115
- 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: 83126e7a3ecdc6cfdaf4d2633411f032a92f5addb89f88c6dc5849be7040aa08; retrieved 2026-09-21T10:05:31.378Z.