ERA09LA370 · Michael J. Kohout Glassair III
Michael J. Kohout Glassair III · Accident: loss of control in flight during an emergency descent
From Washington Manassas Harry P. Davis Field (HEF) to Warrenton Fauquier Airport (HWY)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA09LA370
- 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
Michael J. Kohout Glassair III
- Aircraft type
- Michael J Kohout GLASSAIR
- 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
- N2YT
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Washington Manassas Harry P. Davis Field (HEF), Manassas, VATo Warrenton Fauquier Airport (HWY), Warrenton, VA
- 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
- Emergency 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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 › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot/owner stated that he conducted a "thorough pre-flight inspection" of the experimental amateur-built airplane, which was fully fueled for the accident flight. Engine start, taxi, and all other preflight activities were unremarkable. Just after takeoff from the controlled airport, the passenger noticed fuel venting as the right wing fuel cap had separated from the filler neck, and he informed the pilot of his observation. The pilot requested an emergency landing on the departure runway, in the direction opposite the takeoff direction. The two tower controllers saw the airplane start to turn, and then descend "fast" into trees just beyond the airport. Total flight duration was approximately 1 minute. The pilot told investigators that the airplane handled "erratically" due to the venting fuel, and that he "decided to perform a forced off field landing." Postaccident examination revealed that the fuel caps and filler necks were not placarded in accordance with the kit manufacturer's guidance concerning cap orientation. Subsequent testing of the right main fuel cap did not reveal any anomalies. Available evidence did not support the pilot's perception that the fuel venting constituted an extremely time-critical situation that rapidly resulted in a significant fuel imbalance, and a lateral control problem. The pilot's response to the fuel venting resulted in his preoccupation with requesting and executing an immediate return to the airport.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control while attempting an emergency landing after takeoff. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's inadequate preflight inspection and distraction due to a separated fuel cap in flight.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA09LA370
- Event ID
- 20090627X85419
- Case number
- ERA09LA370
- 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: 7bd6011fe5dbe28c889e8640e4d3f0f595a86ab32d5dfb956a56b276c3c7f235; retrieved 2026-09-15T11:37:36.383Z.