- Date
- August 27, 1989, 18:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Leonardtown, MD
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Standing
- Aircraft
- N24463Taylorcraft BC-65
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 15, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890827031739A
- Case key
- 11527
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Inadequate preflight planning/preparation by the pilot by not assuring that the acft was properly secured, or that someone was at the controls while he was hand propping the engine. A related factor was the pilot's improper adjustment of the throttle cable.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
To start the eng, the plt chocked the left wheel & hand propped the acft with the throttle set at idle. However, after the eng started, its RPM went above idle & the acft jumped the chock. Subsequently, it collided with a parked acft & a rwy light before the plt caught the plane & shut down the eng. He had performed maintenance on the eng earlier that day & had improperly secured the throttle clamp, which allowed the throttle cable to slip to a higher RPM setting.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N24463
- Reported as
- Taylorcraft BC-65
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1800
- Airframe hours
- 1,103
- Engine
- Continental A-65-8F, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- John F. Loftus
- Registered owner
- John F Loftus
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 15, 1989 · 17 hours before
- Departed
- 2W6
- Airport
- 2W6 · St Marys County
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 45
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 308 total · 33 in this make and model · 259 as pilot in command · 18 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.