ANC16LA047 · Aeropro CZ A220
Aeropro CZ A220 · Accident: loss of engine power (partial) during takeoff
From Mc Carthy Airport (15Z) to Wasilla Airport (IYS)
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC16LA047
- 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
Aeropro CZ A220
- Aircraft type
- Aeropro CZ A220
- 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
- N151J
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Mc Carthy Airport (15Z), McCarthy, AKTo Wasilla Airport (IYS), Wasilla, AK
- Aircraft age
- About 3 years (built 2013)
- 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)
- 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 oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The private pilot reported that, during the takeoff roll in the experimental amateur-built light-sport airplane, the engine began surging. He was unable to compensate for the sudden increase in left turning tendency when the engine power increased, and subsequently experienced a loss of control. Video footage of the accident was consistent with the pilot's statement. Examination of the engine, which was equipped with a two-carburetor system, revealed that one carburetor throttle valve lever was bent inward and made contact with the carburetor chamber top. While manipulating the throttle control from inside the cockpit, the throttle valve lever was observed moving only slightly before contacting the carburetor chamber top, which restricted its movement. This resulted in the carburetor being at the idle position during the point of contact. The other carburetor was free of anomalies and operated as designed.
During an engine test run with an exemplar engine of the same make and model, the carburetor throttle valve lever was modified to duplicate that found on accident engine. The engine was run at various power settings before applying full power. At full engine power, the carburetor throttle valve lever stuck against the chamber top and the engine ran rough and would not accelerate to maximum rpm. The carburetor throttle valve lever was then manually pushed forward past the point of contact on the carburetor chamber top, resulting in a burst of engine power immediately followed by smooth engine operation at maximum rpm.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during the takeoff roll, which resulted in a loss of control and impact with terrain. Contributing to the accident were engine power surges due to the bent carburetor throttle valve lever.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC16LA047
- Event ID
- 20160721X15056
- Case number
- ANC16LA047
- 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: 5c88769823580e4ebe33b853d9bae5deb06ab5af47bff89cf01961ad7da5bbd5; retrieved 2026-09-16T03:40:51.815Z.