- Date
- August 21, 1985, 20:15 local (Aug 22, 1985, 00:15 UTC)
- Place
- Bellaire, MI
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N210JTSkyranger Silver Cloud
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850821039769A
- Case key
- 12883
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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 acft crashed after colliding with wires during a forced landing after a power loss during climbout. The plt. Builder had rigged a temporary plastic fuel container on the cockpit floor because the main wing tanks had not been installed. This floor tank was not high enough to give gravity feed and as the acft nosed up the engine would tend to stop operating. After a loss of power the plt turned to land but failed to clear a powerline enroute and crashed in a steep nose down attitude. The plastic fuel container ruptured on impact and drenched the plt but there was no fire. The plt was suspended unconscious upside down in his lap belt & shoulder harness and was rescued
Aircraft
- Registration
- N210JT
- Reported as
- Skyranger Silver Cloud (SILVER CLO)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 021
- Airframe hours
- 3
- Engine
- Rotax 532, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Louis J. Fink, III
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- Bellaire, MI
- Destination
- Bellaire, MI
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
- 35
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 400 total · 1 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 70 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.