MIA07LA032 · Clopton Aero LLC Aerocomp Compair 7SL
Clopton Aero LLC Aerocomp Compair 7SL · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb
From Merritt Island Airport (COI) to Merritt Island Airport (COI)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA07LA032
- 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
Clopton Aero LLC Aerocomp Compair 7SL
- Aircraft type
- Clopton Aero AEROCOMP COMPAIR 7SL
- 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
- N286JL
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Merritt Island Airport (COI), Merritt Island, FLTo Merritt Island Airport (COI)
- 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
- 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
- Manufacturer › Maintenance, 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 pilot stated that he completed about 7 practice crosswind landings during which the airplane performed well with no problems. During his last takeoff at 93 percent power, while at an altitude of about 500 to 700 feet AGL, the turbine started to spool down to about 61 percent (flight idle). He said he initiated emergency procedures to include pushing the left throttle full forward, with no increase in power being realized. He said he then brought the left throttle to flight idle, feathered the propeller, flipped and activated the isolate switch to the on position to bypass the normal fuel delivery system, and then advanced the right throttle full forward. He said the lock clip detent was secure, but this produced no increase in power or thrust, Thrust remained at about 61 percent, with no change being noted in fuel power through either the normal and emergency isolate positions in fuel flow to the turbine. He said he felt he was dropping faster with the propeller feathered, so he attempted to see if he could get some thrust with the propeller control to full forward which seemed to help a little. He said he was able to glide clear of all houses and structures, and was able to ditch the airplane in the water. After recovery from the water, postcrash examinations of the airframe, engine, and accessories were performed by the manufacturer, and the examinations revealed the presence of "slime" in the common airframe fuel filter which received fuel from the normal fuel supply line, as well as the separate emergency fuel supply line that bypassed the fuel control unit, to directly feed the turbine. The engine was also given a separate detailed examination. No other anomalies were noted.
Probable cause
The airplane manufacturer's inadequate maintenance prior to final aircraft delivery, which resulted in fuel filter blockage and engine fuel starvation.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA07LA032
- Event ID
- 20070108X00019
- Case number
- MIA07LA032
- 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: df0de69afabbf235980f543a8b6ba4dffb12284572870a9c38496fbb8f29f250; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:38:28.389Z.