ERA09LA420 · American AA-5
American AA-5 · Accident: system/component malfunction/failure (non-power) en route
From Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR) to Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA09LA420
- 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
American AA-5
- Aircraft type
- American AA-5
- 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
- N65KS
- Operator
- Kenneth H. Smith · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR), Fort Pierce, FLTo Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR), Fort Pierce, FL
- 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
- En route · change of cruise level
- 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
- System/component malfunction/failure (non-power)
- 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
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot stated that he was climbing to 2,500 feet mean sea level when he felt a vibration. The engine rpm dropped from 2,400 rpm to 1,800 rpm, and then the engine appeared to be "wind milling." He initiated a forced landing to an open field, and the airplane collided with a landscaping trailer, causing structural damage to the airplane. Examination of the airframe and flight controls revealed no anomalies. The engine assembly was transported to an authorized repair facility for an engine run. Temporary repairs were made to leads and the engine fuel pump was bypassed due to damage from the collision with the trailer. The engine started and the power was increased to 1500 rpm. The power was not increased any further due to a bent propeller flange. The engine was stabilized and shut down. The fuel pump was removed from the engine and disassembled. The aircraft component list revealed the last fuel pump was installed in 1973. No other information was available on the fuel pump due to an engine swap. Examination of the fuel pump diaphragms revealed they were very hard and holes were present in the diaphragms.
Probable cause
A loss of engine power due to fuel starvation as a result the failure of the engine fuel pump diaphragms during climb.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA09LA420
- Event ID
- 20090724X22547
- Case number
- ERA09LA420
- 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, 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: 409de959bffa8a61de97aa3f0be64f04e6035f03a1db271bad0248aeef306d5c; retrieved 2026-09-15T12:00:14.548Z.