GAA16CA497 · Cirrus Design Corp SR20
Copy Right Express Cirrus Design Corp SR20 · Accident: powerplant system/component malfunction/failure during takeoff
From St Simons Island Airport (SSI) to Miami Executive Airport (TMB)
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA16CA497
- 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
Cirrus Design Corp SR20
- Aircraft type
- Cirrus SR20
- 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
- N204AK
- Operator
- Copy Right Express
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From St Simons Island Airport (SSI), Brunswick, GATo Miami Executive Airport (TMB), Miami, FL
- Aircraft age
- About 15 years (built 2001)
- 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
- Powerplant system/component malfunction/failure
- 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
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that after takeoff, and about 150 feet above the runway, the engine had a total loss of power. He further reported that a clear liquid sprayed from the upper cowling onto the windscreen. He aborted the takeoff, landed on the runway remaining, but was unable to stop prior to the end of the runway. The airplane skidded off the runway and impacted the airport perimeter fence, which resulted in substantial damage to both wings.
During a postaccident examination, the cowling was removed, the electric fuel pump was actuated, and fuel was observed leaking from the fuel input line fitting at the fuel flow divider. After further examination, it was revealed that the torque strip had been disturbed and the fuel line B-nut was found to be loose. After the B-nut was tightened, no fuel leaks were observed.
A review of the airplane's engine maintenance log revealed that no recent maintenance had been performed involving the fuel pump, fuel flow divider, or associated fuel lines.
Probable cause
The total loss of engine power during takeoff due to a loose B-nut on the fuel flow divider input fuel line fitting, which resulted in a fuel leak and fuel starvation.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA16CA497
- Event ID
- 20160922X94831
- Case number
- GAA16CA497
- 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: d00094e51aa5d1f97cb560960a1f20814771b509d6a621ac7e2f6d2fc3d42f2d; retrieved 2026-09-16T04:18:15.603Z.