ERA11LA079 · Easler Kelly RANS S6ES
Easler Kelly RANS S6ES · Accident: loss of engine power (total) during initial climb
From Northeast Florida Regional Airport (SGJ) to Northeast Florida Regional Airport (SGJ)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA11LA079
- 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
Easler Kelly RANS S6ES
- Aircraft type
- Easler Kelly RANS S6ES
- 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
- N26PP
- Operator
- Michael Bowden
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Northeast Florida Regional Airport (SGJ), St. Augustine, FLTo Northeast Florida Regional Airport (SGJ), St. Augustine, 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
- 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 (total)
- 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
- Not determined › Not determined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The accident flight was the first flight after the experimental light sport airplane's engine was removed and replaced. During initial climb, the engine experienced a partial power loss, followed by a total loss of power. During the emergency glide back to the airport, the airplane struck utility wires just prior to the runway. The wreckage was recovered and stored outside, unattended at the airport. Several weeks later, examination of the engine revealed no mechanical discrepancies that would have prevented normal operation. Following the examination, the engine was started and ran uninterrupted.
The airplane owner stated that during engine installation, the mechanic routed the carburetor vent lines upward and tie-wrapped them at the top of each carburetor. The owner further stated that someone must have tampered with the wreckage, as the carburetor vent lines were found routed downward when the engine examination was conducted. The owner subsequently provided a blurry photograph of the engine during installation, prior to the accident, which showed the carburetor vent lines routed upward and tie-wrapped. The engine manufacturer confirmed that upward routing of the lines into an area of positive static pressure could result in fuel starvation.
The mechanic stated that it did not matter if the carburetor vent lines were routed upward or downward and he could not remember which way he routed them on the accident airplane. He further stated that the installation manual did not specify if the lines should be routed upward or downward.
Review of Rotax installation manual excerpts, provided by the mechanic, revealed:
"15) Carburetor...CAUTION: The float chamber venting lines (3) lines have to be routed in a ram-air and vacuum free zone or into the airbox, according to the requirements and release of BRP-Rotax...These lines must not be routed into the slipstream or down the firewall...15.1.1) Drainage piping on airbox and drip trays...WARNING...Route the lines with a continuous decline."
A low fuel level was found in the carburetor float bowl and the mechanical fuel pump, which was consistent with a possible fuel issue that included incorrect carburetor vent hose routing as stated by the airplane owner.
Probable cause
A total loss of engine power during initial climb for undetermined reasons.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA11LA079
- Event ID
- 20101207X53535
- Case number
- ERA11LA079
- 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: c4b1012d689d42deeeaee916b12c8aa3031d5ecdd204320edd95ec8169466bd9; retrieved 2026-09-15T15:36:27.662Z.