MIA05LA122 · Highsmith Fergy FII B
Highsmith Fergy FII B · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb
From Crystal Village Airport (2FL0) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA05LA122
- 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
Highsmith Fergy FII B
- Aircraft type
- Highsmith FERGY FII
- 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
- N456MH
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Crystal Village Airport (2FL0), Chipley, FLTo not recorded
- 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 (mechanical failure)
- 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
- Wire, static
- 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
- Engine assembly, piston › Seized
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot stated that during the takeoff-initial climb, about 200 feet above ground level, the engine's rpm was "slightly below normal." He confirmed the throttle position, and then initiated a left turn. The rpm began to gradually decrease, and he selected a clearing in an easement for a forced landing next to electrical power lines and trees. The airplane impacted the power lines, struck a tree with the left wing, and impacted the ground nose first. During a postaccident inspection, an FAA inspector established flight control continuity, and conducted an external check of the engine with no discrepancies noted. Fuel was present in the fuel system, and no defects were noted with the fuel system or the fuel. The pilot did a postaccident engine tear down examination. He stated he saw markings on the rear cylinder, consistent with it seizing during operation. The aluminum piston had scoring marks from the top to the bottom of the piston. The cylinder walls had light markings as well. He said he spoke with a Rotax authorized service facility, which informed him of reported cases of seized cylinders for undetermined reasons, and that after the engine cooled, the piston was able to move freely in the cylinder with a normal compression check afterwards.
Probable cause
The seizing of the rear engine cylinder during takeoff-initial climb, which resulted in a collision with power lines and structural damage to the airplane during the forced landing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA05LA122
- Event ID
- 20050621X00817
- Case number
- MIA05LA122
- 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: 63bf8b839a019a42b3e533eb982e94c724fe22fa75a9368fa042fc163f35a756; retrieved 2026-09-21T09:06:41.202Z.