DFW07LA087 · PZL 101A
PZL 101A · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From Austin Air Ranch Airport (88R) to Austin Air Ranch Airport (88R)
Event
- NTSB case
- DFW07LA087
- 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
PZL 101A
- Aircraft type
- PZL 101
- 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
- N69NV
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Austin Air Ranch Airport (88R), Spicewood, TXTo Austin Air Ranch Airport (88R), TX
- 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 (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
- Fuel system › Contamination, water
- Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, incorrect
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The vintage experimental airplane experienced a partial loss of engine power shortly after takeoff during the first flight of the day. The 9,000-hour private pilot attempted to execute a left-hand pattern to land opposite direction on the runway. The 285-horsepower 9 cylinder radial engine sustained an additional reduction of power which the pilot was unable to correct. The pilot elected to land the tailwheel-equipped airplane in a group of trees located straight ahead of his flight path. The pilot and passenger were able to exit the airplane unassisted. An examination of the wreckage by the pilot revealed that the auxiliary fuel tank selector lever was in the open position; however, he had insured that the selector was in the closed position during his pre-flight inspection. The pilot suspects that water had contaminated the fuel in the auxiliary tanks resulting in the loss of engine power. The airplane had approximately 80 gallons of fuel aboard at the time of the mishap.
Probable cause
The loss of engine power due to water contamination in the fuel system. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain available for the forced landing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DFW07LA087
- Event ID
- 20070402X00347
- Case number
- DFW07LA087
- 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: c46b01c160fde1b37fae283b79d32606a1893134f52bd234069ff58da513c619; retrieved 2026-09-22T03:57:11.074Z.