ERA11LA301 · Leigh S-6 COYOTE II
Leigh S-6 COYOTE II · Accident: loss of engine power (total) on approach
From Toddsbury Farm Airport (25VA) to New Quarter Farm Airport (92VA)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA11LA301
- 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
Leigh S-6 COYOTE II
- Aircraft type
- Leigh S-6
- 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
- N929RL
- Operator
- Daniel Brandmahl
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Toddsbury Farm Airport (25VA), Aylett, VATo New Quarter Farm Airport (92VA), Gloucester, 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
- Approach · VFR go-around
- 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 pilot stated that after takeoff he climbed to 1,000 feet and flew along a river to his destination. The flight continued beyond his estimated time of arrival as he tried to identify landmarks. He then reduced power and looked for a suitable landing site to check the fuel because the fuel gauge indicated that between zero and 1/4 of his fuel reserves remained. He initiated an approach to a field for a precautionary landing, but noticed that it was not suitable and he began to climb out when the engine lost power. He executed a 180-degree northerly turn and lined up for a forced landing in a field with standing water. While flying at 45 to 50 knots with the first notch of flaps lowered, he noticed a power line and applied aft elevator control input to avoid it. After clearing the power line, the nose of the airplane dropped and the airplane impacted the field. The right main landing gear wheel assembly dug into soft ground, causing the right main landing gear wheel assembly to separate. Postaccident inspection of the airplane and engine revealed no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction. Six gallons of fuel were found in the fuel tank. The engine was started without a propeller installed and operated satisfactorily, but a prolonged run could not be performed due to breach of the engine coolant system. No determination could be made as to the reason for the loss of engine power.
Probable cause
A total loss of engine power for undetermined reasons.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA11LA301
- Event ID
- 20110516X01757
- Case number
- ERA11LA301
- 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: 44cb1b814160789643f3f1b267bb783b4d10227e841d0976695beb6c1105a9e3; retrieved 2026-09-15T16:10:06.251Z.