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ERA18TA222 · Globe GC1B

17 Aug 2018 · Wellington, FL, United States

Globe GC1B · Accident: loss of engine power (partial) during initial climb

From Wellington Aero Club Airport (FD38) to Wellington Aero Club Airport (FD38)

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Event

NTSB case
ERA18TA222
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

Globe GC1B

Aircraft type
Globe GC1
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
N80932
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Wellington Aero Club Airport (FD38), Wellington, FLTo Wellington Aero Club Airport (FD38), Wellington, FL
Aircraft age
About 72 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
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 (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 power plant

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

During the airplane's initial climb in crosswind conditions for the personal flight, the engine experienced a partial loss of power, and the airline transport pilot reported that the airplane entered an aerodynamic stall. He attempted to lower the nose of the airplane, but with insufficient altitude, the airplane impacted a ditch parallel to the runway, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage and both wings. Examination of the airplane revealed that the engine's No. 3 cylinder had low compression, and the No. 3 intake valve had hardened carbon deposit buildup on its stem. After the valve was cleaned and reinstalled, the engine compression returned to the normal range. It is likely that, during the initial climb, the intake valve stuck intermittently due to the carbon deposit buildup, which resulted in the partial loss of engine power and the airplane's inability to climb.

Probable cause

The partial loss of engine power during the initial climb due to a sticking intake valve on the No. 3 cylinder.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ERA18TA222
Event ID
20180820X95146
Case number
ERA18TA222
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: 22fee42e1dd4a16c7bd113941ceb111ae4eefcd78d7e61131a7af77da4fd1d9d; retrieved 2026-09-16T08:07:47.094Z.