ERA09LA187 · Doyle-Michael Sonerai-II
Doyle-Michael Sonerai-II · Accident: loss of engine power (partial) during initial climb
From St. Mary's County Regional Airport (2W6) to St. Mary's County Regional Airport (2W6)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA09LA187
- 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
Doyle-Michael Sonerai-II
- Aircraft type
- Doyle Michael SONERAI-II
- 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
- N28MD
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From St. Mary's County Regional Airport (2W6), Leonardtown, MDTo St. Mary's County Regional Airport (2W6), Leonardtown, MD
- 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
- 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
- Loss of engine power (partial)
- 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
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
According to the pilot/owner of the amateur-built airplane, after performing an engine check, he noticed the sole engine-driven magneto was not operating normally. However, since he had an electronic ignition system, he felt it would be acceptable to remain in the traffic pattern at the airport. While climbing through approximately 400 feet on his sixth takeoff, the engine started to lose power. The pilot/owner manipulated the throttle; however, the engine failed to respond. During the off-airport forced landing, the airplane impacted a tree with the outboard portion of the right wing. Following the recovery of the wreckage, the No. 2 cylinder exhaust pipe was observed detached and the exhaust outlet was in close proximity to the electronic ignition and coil that provided power to the cylinders. Additionally, the fuse to the ignition system was also found blown. After replacing the fuse, the engine operated normally utilizing the electronic ignition system. Manufacturer guidance indicates that the installation of the electronic ignition system should be on the accessory gear box next to the engine driven magneto, in order to prevent excessive temperatures to the coils. In the accident airplane, the electronic ignition system was mounted on the firewall, near the No. 2 exhaust.
Probable cause
The pilot's continued operation of the airplane with a known mechanical deficiency. Contributing to the accident was the improper installation of the electronic ignition system.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA09LA187
- Event ID
- 20090309X31519
- Case number
- ERA09LA187
- 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: 4fa5f5af5648c93ee9468a64f5150ab773d8f34ad6e17259933691bb61b40b93; retrieved 2026-09-15T10:48:59.680Z.