- Date
- March 14, 2024, 15:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Homosassa Springs, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Standing
- Aircraft
- N71093Piper J3C-65
- Defining event
- Standing-engine(s) start-up: Ground collision
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20240314004569A
- Case key
- 193951
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 failure to confirm the throttle position before attempting to start the airplane’s engine by manually rotating the propeller, which resulted in a loss of airplane control.
Findings · 3
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
After refueling his airplane at an intermediate stop and while waiting to start the engine after an unsuccessful attempt, the pilot was approached by an airport tenant who offered some alternate engine-start advice. When subsequent attempts to start the engine failed, the pilot decided to attempt an engine start by manually rotating the propeller while the tenant adjusted the engine controls from outside the airplane. The engine subsequently started at a high rpm. The airplane departed from the chocks and struck an unoccupied parked airplane, which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing and fuselage. The pilot was able to shut the engine down and observed that the throttle was in the “halfway position.” The pilot did not report any mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N71093
- Reported as
- Piper J3C-65
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18121
- Built
- 1946
- Airframe hours
- 4,140
- Engine
- Continental A65-8, 65 hp, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Lukas Vivolo
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 15, 2023 · 40 hours before
- Destination
- PCM · Plant City, FL
- Airport
- CGC · Crystal River-Capt Tom Davis Fld
- 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
- 21
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- None
- Restraint
- None
- Flight hours
- 207 total · 47 in this make and model · 18 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.09 inHg
- Observed at
- KCGC
- METAR
- KCGC 141935Z AUTO 28009KT 10SM CLR 27/17 A3009 RMK AO2
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 22, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 804 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.