CEN19FA279 · Aero Commander 200 D
Aero Commander 200 D · Accident: loss of engine power (total) during takeoff
From Livingston County Spencer J. Hardy Airport (KOZW) to Livingston County Spencer J. Hardy Airport (KOZW)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN19FA279
- 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
- 2 · 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
Aero Commander 200 D
- Aircraft type
- Aero Commander 200
- 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
- N200HS
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Livingston County Spencer J. Hardy Airport (KOZW), Howell, MITo Livingston County Spencer J. Hardy Airport (KOZW), Howell, MI
- Aircraft age
- About 53 years (built 1966)
- 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 (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
- Aircraft › Aircraft handling/service
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The single-engine airplane had undergone recent maintenance, including the installation of a field overhauled engine and a three-bladed propeller. The pilot and pilot-rated passenger were conducting a maintenance check flight. One witness reported that the airplane took off normally, but when it reached between about 200 to 300 ft above ground level, it stopped climbing. Another witness reported that he did not hear the engine but that he could not remember whether the propeller was turning.
The accident engine was a modification to the airplane’s original configuration. Such a modification is typically recorded on a Federal Aviation Administration Form 337, “Major Repair and Alternation,” and adopted by a field approval. However, neither the form nor maintenance records regarding the installation of the modified engine were found during the investigation.
A smart phone recorded two videos from inside the airplane. One of the videos captured the accident flight just after takeoff. Several seconds later, a decrease in engine sound was heard, followed by a momentary warning horn. One of the occupants then stated, “we’re stalling,” followed by the sound of the stall warning horn and impact with terrain.
Examination of the airplane revealed substantial damage to the wings and fuselage. During examination of the engine, the air filter element was found displaced and lodged in the intake. The metal screen used to hold the filter element was found improperly installed. The evidence indicates that the improper installation of the metal screen allowed the filter element to become displaced and subsequently lodged in the intake, which blocked the intake air and resulted in a total loss of engine power.
Probable cause
The improper installation of the engine’s metal intake screen, which allowed the filter element to become displaced and subsequently lodge in the intake, blocking intake air and causing the total loss of engine power, at low altitude and low airspeed resulting in the airplane impacting terrain.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN19FA279
- Event ID
- 20190820X22547
- Case number
- CEN19FA279
- 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: e81012195c579dfda977b9d3d211d374a2426a379720fc7a75092410b75c71bd; retrieved 2026-09-15T07:03:58.481Z.