CEN16LA323 · Cessna TU206C G
Gypsy Moth Skydiving Cessna TU206C G · Accident: loss of engine power (total) en route
From Skiatook Municipal Airport (2F6) to Skiatook Municipal Airport (2F6)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN16LA323
- 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
Cessna TU206C G
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 206
- 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
- N29225
- Operator
- Gypsy Moth Skydiving
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Skiatook Municipal Airport (2F6), Skiatook, OKTo Skiatook Municipal Airport (2F6), Skiatook, OK
- Aircraft age
- About 48 years (built 1968)
- 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
- En route · climb to cruise
- 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 private pilot reported that the accident flight was the second skydiving drop flight of the day. The takeoff and initial climb were normal; however, between 900 and 1,000 ft above ground level, the engine experienced a total loss of power. The pilot executed a forced landing to a field, resulting in substantial damage to the airplane. About 5 gallons of fuel was removed from the airplane at the accident site before transport. During a detailed examination, flight control cable continuity was established from the cockpit to all control surfaces. The fuel selector valve was found between the right tank and off position. The valve functioned normally when rotated by hand. Although the fuel selector valve was found in between the "off" and right tank positions after the accident, it could not be determined if the valve was in that position during the flight. The fuel strainer showed a small amount of fuel present. The fuel was tested and the results were negative for water. There was a significant amount of debris observed in the fuel strainer and the strainer bowl. The debris was consistent with caulking and rust particles. The airplane had usable fuel onboard during the accident flight and the engine ran smoothly during the day's previous flight. Whether the debris found in the fuel filter bowl contributed to the loss of power could not be determined.
Examination of the engine revealed a loose B-nut fitting to the upper deck pressure line. The engine was test run once with the B-nut tightened, and once with the B-nut loosened; no anomalies were noted. Therefore, the loose B-nut was most likely not the reason for the loss of engine power.
Probable cause
A total loss of engine power after takeoff for reasons that could not be determined based on the available information.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN16LA323
- Event ID
- 20160816X45403
- Case number
- CEN16LA323
- 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: eef654017b7aea5ee889817a251d9b9b233f196248e67e094cc306e0529f5958; retrieved 2026-09-16T04:09:56.699Z.