- Date
- August 3, 1990, 07:30 local (12:30 UTC)
- Place
- Moweaqua, IL
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N7176JHilvety Cwii
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 21, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900803032809A
- Case key
- 14502
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 NTSB’s determination of the probable cause, and any contributing factors.
The pilot's failure to maintain flying speed and stalling the airplane while attempting to reverse course for a forced landing. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's failure to properly reinstall spark plug cables during servicing conducted prior to flight.
Analysis
The pilot removed, cleaned and reinstalled spark plugs before flight. About 150 feet into initial climbout from takeoff, the pilot states the engine lost power as if running on only one of the two cylinders. The pilot states he attempted to turn back to the runway and landed the airplane in a mushed stall. Examination of the engine revealed one spark plug cable disconnected. The engine performed satisfactorily when the cable was reconnected.
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7176J
- Reported as
- Hilvety Cwii
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- CH20989CW045
- Airframe hours
- 66
- Engine
- Rotax 503, 52 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Mark Hilvety
- Registered owner
- Skyes The Limit Aircraft, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Unknown · May 21, 1990 · 66 hours before
- Airport
- 4K4 · Hilvety, runway 17, 2,165 × 100 ft, grass/turf
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
- 34
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 335 total · 40 in this make and model · 262 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 4 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 68 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DEC, 12 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.