ATL05LA126 · Ellsworth Sky Bolt
Ellsworth Sky Bolt · Accident: loss of engine power while maneuvering
From DeKalb Peachtree Airport (PDK) to Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport (GVL)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL05LA126
- 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
- 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
Ellsworth Sky Bolt
- Aircraft type
- Ellsworth SKY BOLT
- 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
- N250SE
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From DeKalb Peachtree Airport (PDK), Atlanta, GATo Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport (GVL), Gainesville, GA
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Loss of engine power
- 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
- Pilot in command › Fuel management, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
Witnesses stated that the airplane made a low pass over runway 13 between 30 to 50 feet. The airplane was observed to initiate a climb at mid field and an increase in engine power was heard. The airplane started a left bank and the engine sputtered and lost power on the cross wind turn. One witness stated it sounded as if the pilot was attempting to restart the airplane engine. The airplane leveled off, started descending very rapidly, disappeared from view behind a tree line, and collided with an embankment. Examination of the crash site revealed the main fuel tank was ruptured and fuel had leaked out of the fuel tank. The wing fuel tank was not ruptured and had a small amount of fuel present. The fuel selector valve was found in the off position. All personnel who responded to the accident site stated they did not move the fuel selector valve to the off position. The fuel selector valve was removed and verified it was in the off position. The fuel selector valve was manually operated with no anomalies noted. Examination of the airframe, flight controls, engine assembly and accessories revealed no anomalies. Toxicology findings were consistent with the pre-accident use of fluoxetine, a prescription antidepressant, and cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant. Neither medication was noted on the pilot's last application for a medical certificate.
Probable cause
The pilot's improper fuel management while maneuvering resulting in a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL05LA126
- Event ID
- 20050715X01028
- Case number
- ATL05LA126
- 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: 5fb116f78fa80ce4666ea58aefcc28d8ab074020a05bf655fd59b681ca95ea5b; retrieved 2026-09-20T17:58:50.700Z.