SEA07FA061 · Cessna T210R
Cessna T210R · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From Rexburg Madison County Airport (RXE) to Lincoln Regional Karl Harder Field (LHM)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA07FA061
- 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
Cessna T210R
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 210
- 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
- N6390U
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Rexburg Madison County Airport (RXE), Rexburg, IDTo Lincoln Regional Karl Harder Field (LHM), Lincoln, CA
- 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)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Fuel system, fuel flow divider/distributor › Blocked(partial)
- Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, continued
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 collided with the ground and obstacles following a loss of engine power during takeoff. Witnesses reported the engine losing power during takeoff and the airplane entered a sharp right bank. The airplane then collided with obstacles and terrain. Post accident examination of the engine showed that debris coated the inlet side of the fuel manifold valve which is separated from the outlet side by a screen. When fuel enters the manifold valve, it comes through the screen, and eventually out to the fuel injector nozzles. Due to the amount of debris on the inlet side of the manifold valve, injector fuel pressure could not be obtained above 213 psi (specifications were for 250 psi). With the fuel pump pressure at 83 psi (specifications were for 32.5 psi), at RPMs above 1,500, the fuel pressure may have been excessive, dependent upon the distribution of the debris within the valve. An aviation maintenance technician and a family member reported that the pilot had been experiencing engine trouble during takeoff, similar to the circumstances surrounding the accident, and to correct the problem he would adjust the mixture setting. This adjustment was most likely due to the excessive fuel pressure at the pump, set as a result of the low fuel pressures due to the contaminated manifold valve. As the system pressure increased, the debris generally limited the fuel flow pressure. However, because the debris could move within the valve, the pilot most likely experienced erratic fuel flow pressures. There was no maintenance entry for the adjustment of the fuel pump, nor was any maintenance of the manifold valve noted. Both of these components were remanufactured during the engine overhaul approximately 6.5 years prior to the accident.
Probable cause
The loss of engine power due to the contamination of the fuel manifold valve, and the pilot's continued operation of the airplane with known maintenance discrepancies.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA07FA061
- Event ID
- 20070214X00185
- Case number
- SEA07FA061
- 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: c3ff88dc0596943ad82cf0b5066e2f872995e09089666422909ee6b8c36df40a; retrieved 2026-09-20T16:51:44.387Z.