20110413005859I

Incident · Minor damage

FAA incident report · Shaffstall James W SONEX · Evansville, IN · April 13, 2011

Date
April 13, 2011 · 13:45 local
Place
Evansville, IN
Phase of flight
Takeoff: Climb Out
Operating rules
General operating rules (Part 91)
Damage
Minor damage
Aircraft
N222SX
Reported as
Shaffstall James W Sonex
Reported engine
Continental O-200A
People aboard
1
Fatal injuries
0
Other injuries
0
Pilot’s certificate
Private pilot
Pilot’s flight hours
8,000 total4 in this make and model4 in the last 90 days

From the FAA’s Accident/Incident Data System (AIDS), through its Aviation Safety Information Portal, as reported. The NTSB investigates accidents separately, and its record of an accident is the fuller one. The aircraft is matched to the registry by N-number and event date, checked against the reported make and model; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.

What happened

The FAA’s narrative, in sentence case. The FAA writes it in capitals and removes private details.

The pilot experienced an undetermined loss of power shortly after takeoff. The pilot executed an emergency landing in an adjacent field. During the latter part of the landing roll, the left main landing gear buckled and the aircraft nosed over due to the extremely muddy conditions of the landing field. Fuel starvation was suspected however, the pilot insisted that sufficient fuel was on board. Investigators could not determine the fuel state with any certainty since the time elapsed to arrive on scene may have allowed for any fuel to drain from the inverted fuel tank.

As the FAA filed it

THE PILOT EXPERIENCED AN UNDETERMINED LOSS OF POWER SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF. THE PILOT EXECUTED AN EMERGENCY LANDING IN AN ADJACENT FIELD. DURING THE LATTER PART OF THE LANDING ROLL, THE LEFT MAIN LANDING GEAR BUCKLED AND THE AIRCRAFT NOSED OVER DUE TO THE EXTREMELY MUDDY CONDITIONS OF THE LANDING FIELD. FUEL STARVATION WAS SUSPECTED HOWEVER, THE PILOT INSISTED THAT SUFFICIENT FUEL WAS ON BOARD. INVESTIGATORS COULD NOT DETERMINE THE FUEL STATE WITH ANY CERTAINTY SINCE THE TIME ELAPSED TO ARRIVE ON SCENE MAY HAVE ALLOWED FOR ANY FUEL TO DRAIN FROM THE INVERTED FUEL TANK.