- Date
- September 30, 1991, 17:30 local (21:30 UTC)
- Place
- Laurel, MD
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N2513NPiper PA-38-112
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 10, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910930044149A
- Case key
- 11632
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
A loss of engine power for undetermined reasons.
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
The accident aircraft was on its first flight of the day. The preflight was completed which included draining the fuel sumps for contaminations. The pretakeoff engine runup was satisfactory. The instructor reported that they departed on runway 3 and as they were climbing through 200 feet MSL, the engine lost power. He unsuccessfully tried to restart the engine. A forced landing was made in a field, about a half mile north of the airport. The aircraft struck a tree and a utility pole during the approach to the field, damaging the wings. Examination of the engine did not disclose any evidence of malfunction.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2513N
- Reported as
- Piper PA-38-112
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 38-790883
- Airframe hours
- 6,425
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 125 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Suburban Air Service Inc.
- Registered owner
- Glenn I. Altman
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 13, 1991 · 29 hours before
- Departed
- W18
- Airport
- W18 · Suburban, runway 3, 2,170 × 29 ft, dirt
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
- 24
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 430 total · 51 in this make and model · 356 as pilot in command · 152 in the last 90 days · 51 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 80° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BWI, 10 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.