ATL06LA130 · Bellanca 14-13-2
Bellanca 14-13-2 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Pickens County Airport (JZP) to Pickens County Airport (JZP)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL06LA130
- 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
Bellanca 14-13-2
- Aircraft type
- Bellanca 14
- 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
- N74475
- Operator
- Richard C Spears · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Pickens County Airport (JZP), Jasper, GATo Pickens County Airport (JZP), Jasper, 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
- En route · cruise
- 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
- Fuel contamination; 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
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, annual inspection, improper
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
According to the pilot, he flew over his residence and was heading back to the airport at about 3,200 feet mean sea level when the engine lost power. He said he was able to restart it several times, but it would only run for a few seconds each time. He chose a field to do a forced landing, but did not have enough altitude to clear a tree line. The airplane collided with the trees and came to rest inverted in a private residential driveway. Examination of the engine assembly revealed the engine remained intact and attached to the engine mounts. The propeller was rotated by hand and engine continuity was established through to the accessory section. Closer examination of the engine compartment found that the airplane was equipped with an automotive starter relay, automotive battery and an automotive fuel boost pump. Additionally, automotive fuel was observed in the fuel tanks and fuel lines. The pilot confirmed that he operated the airplane using automotive fuel. Examination of the logbooks found no approvals for the use of automotive fuel. Further examination of the fuel system including disassembly of the carburetor, gascolator and boost pump found contamination of both the gascolator and boost pump. The contamination consisted of insect parts and a sandy substance similar to dirt. The sandy substance was observed caked and blocking the stand pipe in the fuel gascolator which would have prevented fuel from reaching the carburetor resulting in a loss of engine power. Examination of the engine logbooks found that the airplane had received an annual inspection on August 19, 2006, and had logged 4.4 hours since that inspection.
Probable cause
A loss of engine power due to fuel contamination. Also causal was the mechanic's failure to ensure the aircraft's fuel system was free of contamination while performing an annual inspection.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL06LA130
- Event ID
- 20061003X01440
- Case number
- ATL06LA130
- 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: 96f3efc13956750d1c0b15e0881ad860105558a50b928efc1b0fefa2a5080ddb; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:40:35.156Z.