MIA07LA124 · Dennis M. Durgin Junior Ace
Dennis M. Durgin Junior Ace · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Charles A. Chase Jr. Memorial Field (44B) to Charles A. Chase Jr. Memorial Field (44B)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA07LA124
- 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
Dennis M. Durgin Junior Ace
- Aircraft type
- Dennis M Durgin JUNIOR ACE
- 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
- N9778N
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Charles A. Chase Jr. Memorial Field (44B), Dover-Foxcroft, METo Charles A. Chase Jr. Memorial Field (44B), Dover-Foxcroft, ME
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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 starvation; Stall/mush; 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 › Airspeed, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The flight departed with 6 gallons of fuel on board, flew locally, then returned to the departure airport where the pilot performed 2 full-stop taxi back landings. The flight departed from runway 27, remained in the traffic pattern, and while on the downwind leg, the pilot reduced power to 1,700-1,800 rpm. The pilot extended the downwind leg, turned base and final, then the engine experienced a loss of power due to fuel starvation. The pilot then inadvertently stalled the airplane which collided with trees during the uncontrolled descent. Postaccident examination of the engine and flight controls by an FAA inspector revealed no evidence of preimpact mechanical failure or malfunction; a minimum quantity of fuel was noted but the amount was not quantified.
Probable cause
The failure of the pilot to maintain airspeed following total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation, resulting in a stall/mush, uncontrolled descent, and in-flight collision with trees.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA07LA124
- Event ID
- 20070803X01095
- Case number
- MIA07LA124
- 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. 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: 8c259a8207f4df64e0e8408032625c93f577835febde9dccd52212881b1f73fe; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:26:41.823Z.