- Date
- July 5, 2021, 12:00 local (16:00 UTC)
- Place
- Wapakoneta, OH · ramp/hangar
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Standing
- Aircraft
- N9149EAeronca 11AC
- Defining event
- Standing-engine(s) start-up: Ground handling event
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA Columbus FSDO
- FAA report
- 20210705012629A
- Case key
- 103443
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
The pilot’s inadequate engine hand propping procedure resulting in the unoccupied airplane’s unintended movement and subsequent impact with a hangar.
Findings · 4
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The airplane was not equipped with an electrical system and the engine was started by hand propping. The pilot reported that he did not have a passenger to hold the brakes in the cockpit during engine start, nor did he use wheel chocks and/or tether the tail to a fixed object because he thought using the airplane’s parking brake would keep the airplane stationary after the engine had started. Before the engine was hand propped, the pilot set the throttle about ¼” to ½” forward of the idle position, but the engine’s speed was much higher than he had expected after the engine started. The unoccupied airplane initially moved forward before it entered a left turn on the ramp in front of a row of hangars. Although the pilot was able to reach into the cockpit to move the throttle to idle, the airplane continued in the left turn and struck a closed hangar door, resulting in substantial damage to the right wing. The pilot did not report any mechanical malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9149E
- Reported as
- Aeronca 11AC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 11AC-783
- Built
- 1946
- Airframe hours
- 2,252.17
- Engine
- Continental A65-8, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 6, 2020 · 40.9 hours before
- Destination
- 3CM · Bay City, MI
- Airport
- AXV · Neil Armstrong Airport
- Equipment
- None
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
- 55
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 12, 2020
- Seat
- None
- Restraint
- None
- Flight hours
- 3,205 total · 30 in this make and model · 3,150 as pilot in command · 120 in the last 90 days · 26 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.06 inHg
- Observed at
- KAXV
- METAR
- METAR KAXV 051555Z AUTO 22006KT 10SM CLR 28/20 A3006 RMK AO2=
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 4, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 974 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.