CEN12LA253 · Bumford-Royer CHRISTEN EAGLE II
Bumford-Royer CHRISTEN EAGLE II · Accident: loss of engine power (total) during initial climb
From Pearland Regional Airport (LVJ) to Pearland Regional Airport (LVJ)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN12LA253
- 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
Bumford-Royer CHRISTEN EAGLE II
- Aircraft type
- Bumford Royer CHRISTEN EAGLE
- 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
- N80BH
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Pearland Regional Airport (LVJ), Pearland, TXTo Pearland Regional Airport (LVJ), Pearland, TX
- Aircraft age
- About 29 years (built 1983)
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The airplane's engine experienced a total loss of power during initial climb, and the pilot subsequently attempted to turn back toward the airport but was unable to reach the airport or a suitable forced landing area. The airplane impacted trees and terrain, resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage and both wings. A large fuel spill occurred, but no postimpact fire ensued. A postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed that a B nut attaching the fuel supply line was only "finger tight" and was able to be loosened with finger pressure. Further, evidence of dye from a fuel stain was observed near the loose B nut. A review of maintenance records revealed that maintenance had recently been performed in that area of the engine; however, when the insufficient torque was applied to the B nut could not be determined.
Probable cause
A loose B nut on the fuel inlet line due to maintenance personnel’s application of insufficient torque on the nut at an unknown time, which resulted in a fuel leak and a subsequent total loss of engine power during initial climb.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN12LA253
- Event ID
- 20120423X93428
- Case number
- CEN12LA253
- 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: 92075527044dc24d8a47164d63f14fe07305f0c21ca251bea18223374f216085; retrieved 2026-09-15T17:52:15.298Z.