NYC82FGM16 · Foster AIRSPEED
Foster AIRSPEED · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From Butler, PA to Butler, PA
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC82FGM16
- 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
- 1 · 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
Foster AIRSPEED
- Aircraft type
- Foster AIRSPEED
- 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
- N827Z
- Operator
- Henry C. Foster · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Butler, PATo Butler, PA
- 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
- Total 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 starvation; Stall/mush
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Fluid, fuel › Starvation
- Pilot in command › Aircraft handling, improper
- Pilot in command › Stall/mush, inadvertent
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Butler, PA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE OWNER INTENDED TO PUT HIS AIRCRAFT ON STATIC DISPLAY AT THE AIRPORT FLY-IN WHICH WAS ON THE SAME AIRPORT. A FRIEND INFORMED THE OWNER THAT HE WOULD LIKE TO FLY THE PLANE AND THE OWNER DISCLOSED THAT IT DID NOT HAVE A CURRENT INSPECTION. THE PLANE WAS FUELED WITH 3 GAL OF GASOLINE AND THE OWNER SUGGESTED THAT HIS FRIEND TAXI IT TO THE STATIC DISPLAY AREA. WITNESSES REPORTED THAT THE AIRCRAFT TOOK OFF ON RUNWAY 18 AND BEGAN A CLIMBING LEFT TURN. ONE WITNESS REPORTED THE ENGINE LOST POWER AT ABOUT 150 FT AGL. THE AIRCRAFT ENTERED A STEEP TURN AND THE NOSE BEGAN DROPPING. REPORTEDLY, THE PILOT ATTEMPTED TO PULL THE AIRCRAFT UP FROM A HIGH SINK RATE. ACCORDING TO A NEARBY WITNESS, THE AIRCRAFT IMPACTED IN A FLAT ATTITUDE. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE OUTLET OF THE FUEL TANK WAS IN THE CENTER/BOTTOM OF THE TANK. THE OWNER BELIEVED THAT WITH ONLY 3 GAL OF FUEL, FUEL STARVATION COULD OCCUR IN UNCOORDINATED FLIGHT OR STEEP CLIMBS OR DIVES. HE BELIEVE THERE WAS 1 GAL OF UNUSABLE FUEL IN NORMAL BANKS/CAREFUL CLIMB
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC82FGM16
- Event ID
- 20020917X05051
- Case number
- NYC82FGM16
- 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: ad851bb51c10d06fabfe1022999d554b93ade383d55b37d47672b057ff11045a; retrieved 2026-09-21T07:46:27.259Z.