- Date
- February 10, 2025, 11:01 local (16:01 UTC)
- Place
- Doylestown, PA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N258DKAllyn Kaste Rans S-19 (KIT)
- Defining event
- Initial climb: Loss of engine power (partial)
- 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
- 20250210000929A
- Case key
- 199741
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 maintenance and preflight inspection.
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
The day before the accident, the pilot had removed the airplane’s induction air filter but had inadvertently forgotten to reinstall it. On the day of the accident flight, he had also inadvertently forgotten to remove the engine cowling plugs. After takeoff, the pilot turned onto the downwind leg of the airport traffic pattern and the engine output immediately reduced to idle power and the engine would not respond to throttle input. The pilot then executed a forced landing in a gravel lot, during which the airplane bounced, the nose landing gear separated, and the airplane came to rest inverted. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing and fuselage. Postaccident examination of the wreckage confirmed that the left cowling plug was partially ingested into the end of the intake filter duct, completely obstructing it. No evidence of any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airframe or engine were otherwise found. Based on this information, it is likely that the restricted flow of intake air to the engine resulted in the partial loss of engine power.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N258DK
- Reported as
- Allyn Kaste Rans S-19 (KIT)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 011000083
- Built
- 2011
- Airframe hours
- 1,362
- Engine
- Rotax 912 ULS, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental light sport (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 14, 2024 · 1,229 hours before
- Destination
- N40 · Pittstown, NJ
- Airport
- DYL · Doylestown, runway 06/24, 5,500 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Onboard weather, ADS-B, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Handheld GPS
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
- 80
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Sport pilot
- Last flight review
- November 15, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 2,722.8 total · 1,185.8 in this make and model · 2,272.8 as pilot in command · 31 in the last 90 days · 12.5 in the last 30 days · 0.1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 34 °F, dew point 21 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.38 inHg
- Turbulence
- Light
- Observed at
- DYL
- METAR
- KDYL 101554Z AUTO 29006KT 10SM BKN040 01/M06 A3038 RMK AO2 SLP295 T00111061
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 9, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.5 MB 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.