ATL82FLJ04 · Porterfield CP-65
Porterfield CP-65 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From Jacksonville, NC to Jacksonville, NC
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL82FLJ04
- 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
- 2 · 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
Porterfield CP-65
- Aircraft type
- Porterfield CP-65
- 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
- N37768
- Operator
- Jas. Simpson
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Jacksonville, NCTo Jacksonville, NC
- 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
- Partial 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; Stall
- 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
- Airport personnel › Other airport/runway maintenance, inadequate
- Fluid, fuel › Contamination
- Fluid, fuel › Water
- Pilot in command › Airspeed, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Jacksonville, NC, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
WITNESSES HEARD THE ENG SPUTTER AFTER TAKEOFF AS THE ACFT WAS IN A STEEP CLIMB. THE ACFT WAS THEN OBSERVED TO TURN SHARPLY LEFT, ENTER A NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE & CRASH. ABOUT 1/2 TEASPOON OF RUSTY WATER WAS FOUND IN THE MAIN FUEL STRAINER & THE FUEL SCREEN CONTAINED RUST. ABOUT 1/2 OUNCE OF CONTAMINATED WATER WAS FOUND IN THE CARBURETOR BOWL. THE ACFT HAD BEEN REFUELED THE WEEK PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT AT ALBERT ELLIS ARPT WHERE THE FBO HAD BEEN OUT OF FUEL THE PREVIOUS 45 DAYS ON 5 OR 6 DIFFERENT OCCASIONS. TWO OTHER ACFT ALSO REPORTED RECEIVING CONTAMINATED FUEL FROM THE FBO. THE FUEL FILTERS ON THE FUEL TRUCK & AT THE FUEL FARM WERE OUT OF DATE. THE DAY THE ACFT WAS REFUELED, THE FUEL TRUCK TOOK ON A LOAD OF FUEL AT THE FARM AT THE SAME TIME A FUEL TANKER TRUCK WAS OFF-LOADING FUEL INTO THE FARM. THE ACFT FUSELAGE TANKDOES NOT HAVE A QUICK DRAIN. THE ENG PERFORMED NORMALLY DURING A SUBSEQUENT OPERATIONAL CHECK.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL82FLJ04
- Event ID
- 20020917X01760
- Case number
- ATL82FLJ04
- 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: a0a8ae2d515a9f8856ce5dbcf5273c1ed97661504da35975b4c21d64a4fd812b; retrieved 2026-09-21T08:37:18.477Z.