SEA83LA024 · Cessna 170
Cessna 170 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From S44 · Spanaway, WA to S44 · Spanaway, WA
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA83LA024
- 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
Cessna 170
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 170
- 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
- N2698V
- Operator
- Margarette Fremont
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From S44 · Spanaway, WATo S44 · Spanaway, 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
- 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 contamination; Wire, transmission
- 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 › Contamination
- Fluid, fuel › Water
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT REPORTED THAT WHILE CLIMBING THROUGH ABOUT 75 TO 100 FT AGL, THE ENGINE LOST POWER. HE MANEUVERED THE AIRCRAFT STRAIGHT AHEAD TO LAND BEYOND A HIGHWAY. THERE WERE TRANSMISSION LINES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ROADWAY. THE PILOT BELIEVED HE HAD INSUFFICIENT AIRSPEED AND ALTITUDE TO SAFELY FLY OVER THE LINES. REPORTEDLY, THE TAIL CONTACTED A CABLE WHILE CROSSING UNDER THE FIRST SET OF WIRES (A TELEPHONE LINE). THE RIGHT WING CONTACTED THE GROUND, THE AIRCRAFT CARTWHEELED ACROSS THE HIGHWAY, THEN IT CAME TO REST IN A DITCH ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE ROADWAY. AS THE OCCUPANTS EXITED THE AIRCRAFT, A SMALL FIRE DEVELOPED IN THE VICINITY OF THE ENGINE. WITHIN A SHORT TIME THE AIRCRAFT WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE FUEL SELECTOR WAS POSITIONED TO BOTH TANKS.WATER WAS FOUND IN THE RIGHT TANK AND IN A LINE LEADING FROM THE RIGHT TANK. RUST WAS FOUND ON THE INSIDE TANGS OF THE RIGHT FUEL CAP, IN THE THREADS OF THE RIGHT QUICK DRAIN AND THE CARBURETOR. NO OTHER PREIMPACT PROBLEMS WERE EVIDENT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA83LA024
- Event ID
- 20020917X05164
- Case number
- SEA83LA024
- 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: 9759838673f58f8bcbe6eb964e67bae4e88c662c04d5ddfec1f1695f9844ad32; retrieved 2026-09-23T23:59:48.724Z.