NYC08LA224 · Aero Vodochody Aero. Works L-29 Delfin
Aero Vodochody Aero. Works L-29 Delfin · Accident: collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT) during an uncontrolled descent
From Millville Municipal Airport (MIV) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC08LA224
- 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
- 2 · 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
Aero Vodochody Aero. Works L-29 Delfin
- Aircraft type
- Aero Vodochody Aero Works L-29
- 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
- N29DJ
- Operator
- William E. Crean · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Millville Municipal Airport (MIV), Millville, NJTo not recorded
- 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
- Uncontrolled descent
- Defining eventThe 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
- Collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT)
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
While climbing after takeoff, the former Czech military jet trainer experienced a total loss of engine power and struck pine trees in a wooded area about 1 mile southwest of the airport. Subsequent examination of the airplane's fuel system revealed fuel that drained from the fuel filter was contaminated with black sediment, and appeared "extremely cloudy." Additionally, the fuel filter element was contaminated and restricted the flow of fuel to the engine. The pilot purchased the airplane about 1 year prior to the accident. The maintenance records were not located. The pilot fueled the airplane from a tank on the back of a pickup truck. Review of fuel receipts revealed that the day prior to the accident, the pilot purchased about 138 gallons of "kerosene," 6 gallons of "off road diesel," and 27 gallons of "diesel" fuel. Review of a preflight inspection checklist for the airplane revealed that it included discharging "2 liters" of fuel from the fuel filter drain to check for contamination.
Probable cause
A total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation as a result of a clogged fuel filter that was not identified due to the pilot's inadequate preflight inspection.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC08LA224
- Event ID
- 20080702X00967
- Case number
- NYC08LA224
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: 4cab211d718a21335030124d9e2bfddf27f7920e91cc54b8ac8dcba947bfd398; retrieved 2026-09-13T19:10:52.239Z.