ERA19FA106 · Stol Aircraft Corp UC-1
Stol Aircraft Corp UC-1 · Accident: powerplant system/component malfunction/failure during initial climb
From Winter Haven Regional Airport - Gilbert Field (GIF) to Winter Haven Regional Airport - Gilbert Field (GIF)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA19FA106
- 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
- 1 · 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
Stol Aircraft Corp UC-1
- Aircraft type
- Stol UC-1
- 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
- N65NE
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Winter Haven Regional Airport - Gilbert Field (GIF), Winter Haven, FLTo Winter Haven Regional Airport - Gilbert Field (GIF), Winter Haven, FL
- Aircraft age
- About 33 years (built 1986)
- 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
- 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 oper/perf/capability
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot and flight instructor were conducting an instructional flight in the amphibious multi-engine airplane. The instructor briefed the pilot before the flight that he would simulate an engine failure at some point after takeoff. The pilot stated that, after takeoff, about 200 to 300 ft above ground level, the instructor reduced power on the left engine, and the engine subsequently lost all power.
The flight instructor took control of the airplane and unsuccessfully attempted to restart the engine as the airplane continued to descend. The pilot stated that he was in the process of retracting the landing gear and did not have enough time to retract the flaps. The instructor was unable to establish a climb and upon realizing that the airplane would not reach the selected forced landing site, the instructor selected a closer landing site; however, as he turned the airplane left toward the site, the airplane likely slowed below its single-engine minimum control airspeed, the left wing dropped, and the airplane impacted a house. Examination of the wreckage revealed that the left propeller was in the feather position. There was no evidence of any preexisting mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane, and the left engine performed with no anomalies during a test run; therefore, the reason for the total loss of left engine power could not be determined.
The instructor's decision to simulate a failure of the airplane's critical engine at low altitude allowed little margin for securing the failed engine and configuring the airplane for optimum single-engine performance following the actual loss of engine power. His subsequent failure to maintain airspeed while maneuvering for a forced landing resulted in a loss of control.
Probable cause
A total loss of left engine power for reasons that could not be determined, and the instructor's failure to maintain airspeed while maneuvering for a forced landing, which resulted in a loss of control. Contributing to the accident was the instructor's decision to conduct a simulated engine failure at low altitude.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA19FA106
- Event ID
- 20190223X41250
- Case number
- ERA19FA106
- 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: b3e15c0d99ec811f761d2ac0feb5b4d1d5d171a88eb667788eeb07a1aca28ed6; retrieved 2026-09-15T06:54:37.237Z.