ERA13LA406 · Engineering & Research 415-D
Engineering & Research 415-D · Accident: loss of engine power (total) during initial climb
From Beaver County Airport (BVI) to North Central West Virginia Airport (CKB)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA13LA406
- 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
Engineering & Research 415-D
- Aircraft type
- Engineering Research 415
- 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
- N3940H
- Operator
- Ferren Larry
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Beaver County Airport (BVI), Beaver Falls, PATo North Central West Virginia Airport (CKB), Clarksburg, WV
- Aircraft age
- About 66 years (built 1947)
- 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 › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
According to the pilot, he departed for a flight to his home base airport, and, while the airplane was climbing through 200 ft above ground level, the engine began to run roughly. While he was attempting to turn back toward the airport, the engine experienced a total loss of power, and he subsequently made an emergency landing in a nearby field. No anomalies were noted with the carburetor or the induction, ignition, and fuel systems; 100 low lead fuel was found in the header tank.
A postaccident examination of the engine revealed that the No. 3 cylinder exhaust valve was stuck in the "open" position and that the Nos. 2 and 4 cylinder spark plugs were carbon fouled. Although an engine manufacturer service bulletin (SB) stated that 100 low lead fuel was an acceptable alternative fuel, it also indicated that "the amount of tetraethyl lead in these higher grade fuels has increased the lead build up and fouling of spark plugs." The SB noted that, when this type of fuel is used, "exhaust valve sticking could result from lead salt accumulation in the lubricating oil," and it recommended that "regular 50 hour oil changes be implemented to reduce such accumulation." The SB also recommended that the spark plugs be rotated every 50 hours of operation and cleaned and rotated every 100 hours. A review of the engine maintenance logbooks revealed that the airplane's most recent annual inspection was completed about 60 hours before the accident. No record was found indicating that the oil was changed after the annual inspection. Based on the condition of the exhaust valve and the spark plugs and the maintenance records, it is likely that the pilot did not follow the SB-recommended procedures, which resulted in the engine carbon buildup and the exhaust valve being stuck open.
Probable cause
The owner/pilot’s failure to follow engine manufacturer recommendations for engine oil changes and spark plug cleaning and rotating when operating the airplane with 100 low lead fuel, which resulted in carbon buildup in the engine and the total loss of engine power due to the No. 3 cylinder exhaust valve being stuck open.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA13LA406
- Event ID
- 20130909X51125
- Case number
- ERA13LA406
- 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: 973899796e3e06b558b94173d24ad5cde02d05352eab5ab2308cf989b50a4d4c; retrieved 2026-09-15T22:48:24.850Z.