SEA05CA197 · Cessna 180H
Cessna 180H · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb
From Yelm, WA to S44 · Spanaway, WA
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA05CA197
- 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
Cessna 180H
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 180
- 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
- N1037V
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Yelm, 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
- Loss of engine power
- 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
- Miscellaneous, bolt/nut/fastener/clamp/spring › Missing
- Mixture control, linkage › Separation
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 reported that he had a hard time starting the engine. Thinking that it was still hot from the previous flight, he pulled the mixture to lean and the engine eventually started. The pilot then put the mixture control to the rich position. The engine run-up was accomplished prior to takeoff with no abnormalities noted. The pilot stated that after takeoff, at about 200 feet above ground level, the engine lost power. The pilot initiated a turn to an open field and pumped the throttle, then the mixture control. The engine started momentarily before losing power again. The pilot then landed the aircraft in an open field. During the landing roll, the aircraft collided with several fences. Post accident inspection of the engine by a local Inspection Authorization mechanic found that the retaining nut and washer on the mixture cable attach bolt was missing. The mechanic operated the mixture cable and found that the lever on the carburetor did not move stop-to-stop. When operating the mixture stop-to-stop from the pilot's seat, the lever on the carburetor slipped and would not stay in preset position in relation to the mixture cable. Further inspection of the engine did not find any other mechanical failures or malfunctions that would preclude the engine from running. An annual inspection had been accomplished about 27 hours prior to the accident.
Probable cause
The mixture control linkage separation as a result of a missing retaining nut and washer on the mixture cable attach bolt. Inadequate maintenance inspection and fences were factors.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA05CA197
- Event ID
- 20051018X01676
- Case number
- SEA05CA197
- 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: local date, investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2005-09-22.
- API snapshot SHA-256: cb06c8bb1328d9916defd4f59dce2e3a76db85fa21578d1084fb887afc0a04e0; retrieved 2026-09-22T05:20:54.611Z.