MIA06CA111 · Piper PA-28-161
Piper PA-28-161 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From Ormond Beach Municipal Airport (KOMN) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA06CA111
- 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
Piper PA-28-161
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- 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
- N8149Q
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Ormond Beach Municipal Airport (KOMN), Ormond Beach, 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
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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 › Aborted takeoff, not performed
- Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, inadequate
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 flown by the student and certified flight instructor (CFI) on 2 separate flights lasting a total of approximately 2.8 hours. While taxiing after landing following the second flight, the CFI reportedly advised the student to fill the fuel tanks before flying solo in the traffic pattern. The student reported that while taxiing after landing following the second flight the CFI advised him after looking at the fuel gauges to supply fuel to the engine from the left tank because it had a greater amount of fuel. The airplane was not fueled before the student departed solo and during the initial climb to remain in the traffic pattern, the engine sputtered. The student decreased the angle of attack and engine power was restored; this sequence was reported as occurring 3 times by a witness located on the airport. After the engine lost power a third time, engine power was not restored and the airplane collided with trees, then the ground during a forced landing. Postaccident inspection revealed the fuel selector was found positioned to the left fuel tank which was empty, while the right fuel tank was approximately 1/2 full. The airplane was recovered without removal of the wings and transported to the airport where the engine was started and operated without discrepancies to 1,000 rpm. Concern for internal engine damage precluded operation at a higher rpm. Examination of the fuel gauges revealed that with electrical power applied, the left fuel gauge "pegged full." The left fuel transmitter and left fuel gauge independently tested satisfactory. Examination of the electrical wiring from the left fuel transmitter to the fuel gauge revealed a discrepancy with a connection near the wing root.
Probable cause
A loss of engine power due to the student pilot's improper positioning of the fuel selector during takeoff. A contributing factor was the pilot's failure to abort the takeoff.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA06CA111
- Event ID
- 20060628X00844
- Case number
- MIA06CA111
- 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: 3bc52f07b135860ee47be73411c90b35ccb9be535d3c17e81becf32da3bbafb7; retrieved 2026-09-22T04:55:13.528Z.