CHI04LA238 · American Aviation Corp. (AAC) AA-1A
American Aviation Corp. (AAC) AA-1A · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From New Century AirCenter Airport (IXD) to Prayagraj Airport (IXD)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI04LA238
- 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
American Aviation Corp. (AAC) AA-1A
- Aircraft type
- American Aviation Corp (aac) AA-1
- 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
- N9442L
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From New Century AirCenter Airport (IXD), Olathe, KSTo Prayagraj Airport (IXD)
- 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
- En route · descent
- 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
- 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
- Fluid, fuel › Starvation
- Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, improper
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The airplane was substantially damaged during a forced landing following a loss of engine power. The pilot reported that they were returning after an approximately 30 minute local flight when the engine began to run rough. The airplane was established in a descent and the pilot leveled off at 1,200 feet above ground level. He stated that he moved the mixture control to full rich, however, the engine quit completely. The pilot stated he saw an open field to his right and set-up for a forced landing. He reported that due to the low altitude, he did not switch fuel tanks or attempt to determine the cause of the loss of engine power. The pilot stated the airplane touched down in the field on the main landing gear. He attempted to hold the nose wheel off the ground as long as possible, however, when it dropped the airplane nosed over. The airplane came to rest inverted. A post-accident examination was conducted. Fuel was leaking out of the left tank cap and when the cap was loosened fuel began pouring out of the tank. The right fuel tank cap was secure and when removed, the tank appeared to be empty. No evidence of fuel on the ground was observed at the accident site. The cockpit fuel selector was set to the right tank. Inspection of the fuel system did not reveal any anomalies. No debris was observed in samples taken from the system.
Probable cause
A loss of engine power due to fuel starvation resulting from the pilot's selection of a fuel tank with an insufficient quantity remaining.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI04LA238
- Event ID
- 20040831X01334
- Case number
- CHI04LA238
- 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, coordinates. 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: 6e4d27e586f3d0665bb79d36d6eec17e88fa339394712726554e4bab3ceb30ca; retrieved 2026-09-21T19:10:38.739Z.