IAD05LA090 · Aeronca 11CC
Aeronca 11CC · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb
From Charlotte, VT (no airport) to No airport
Event
- NTSB case
- IAD05LA090
- 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
Aeronca 11CC
- Aircraft type
- Aeronca 11
- 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
- N4337E
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Charlotte, VT (no airport)To No airport
- 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
- 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
- Pilot in command › Airspeed, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A witness observed the airplane as it appeared from between trees traveling northbound, below the treetops, and out over a field about 50 feet above the ground. The engine sound was "slow," the airspeed was "real slow," and the wings rocked from side to side. The pitch attitude continued to increase to about 45 degrees, but the airplane did not climb. The nose of the airplane then lowered, the engine noise stopped, and the airplane disappeared from view behind a line of trees. The airplane crashed in a "big" field that was suitable for a forced landing. The engine was started and ran to partial power in a test cell after the accident. Oil-soaked spark plugs were cleaned and reinstalled, and impact-damaged ignition leads were replaced and the engine was restarted. The engine started immediately, accelerated smoothly, and ran to full operating rpm without interruption. Prior to the engine run, the carburetor bowl drain plug was removed, and approximately one-half ounce of fluid was drained. The fluid was absent of water and debris. The fluid was dark yellow in color, with an odor of automotive gasoline and lacquer thinner. The engine was modified in accordance with an FAA supplemental type certificate to run on unleaded automotive gasoline. Interpolation of a carburetor icing probability chart revealed that atmospheric conditions at the time of the accident were conducive to "serious icing at glide power."
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed, which resulted in an inadvertent stall, and impact with terrain. A factor in the accident was the partial loss of engine power for undetermined reasons.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record IAD05LA090
- Event ID
- 20050714X01025
- Case number
- IAD05LA090
- 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: 75ad74ccfbf0588a9ca9529cfbbd56a7adb5f567240247ac51ee6e0b31d9ec84; retrieved 2026-09-21T09:05:46.243Z.