CEN16LA267 · Aeronca 7BCM
Aeronca 7BCM · Accident: loss of engine power (partial) during takeoff
From Vance Brand Airport (LMO) to Vance Brand Airport (LMO)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN16LA267
- 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
Aeronca 7BCM
- Aircraft type
- Aeronca 7
- 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
- N2576E
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Vance Brand Airport (LMO), Longmont, COTo Vance Brand Airport (LMO), Longmont, CO
- Aircraft age
- About 70 years (built 1946)
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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 (partial)
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Wire
- 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
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The commercial pilot was taking off in the light sport aircraft for a local personal flight. The pilot reported that, while attempting to take off from the 4,799-ft-long runway, he noticed a lower-than-normal engine rpm and that the takeoff roll was significantly longer. Despite the extended takeoff roll and low engine rpm, the pilot chose to continue the takeoff. The airplane lifted off and slowly climbed to about 200 ft above ground level. Due to concerns about rising terrain, the pilot chose to make a forced landing, during which the airplane hit power lines. The airplane then skipped across a road and nosed over.
Examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures. Carburetor icing was likely not a factor given the environmental conditions at the time of the accident and the pilot's report of a short taxi time.
Probable cause
The pilot's decision to continue the takeoff after observing a partial loss of engine power, the reason for which could not be determined because postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN16LA267
- Event ID
- 20160718X03838
- Case number
- CEN16LA267
- 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: 1c36daa7f83c5b012c2a64a1ce4cd9a60744d6e49dcbcc69650acd350e866d5a; retrieved 2026-09-16T03:39:48.269Z.