- Date
- April 1, 2025, 09:30 local (13:30 UTC)
- Place
- Martinsville, VA · On Airport
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N84065Aeronca 7AC
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Fuel related
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 6, 2025
- 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
- 20250401003819A
- Case key
- 199945
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 inadvertently turned off the fuel selector valve on takeoff which resulted in a loss of engine power.
Findings · 2
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 pilot was attempting to take off when his handheld radio fell from its holder and came to rest under a control cable. The pilot said that once the climb attitude was established, he reached down and picked up the radio and inadvertently turned off the fuel selector valve. Less than a minute later, the engine lost power. The pilot said he ran the emergency checklist and checked that the fuel was “on”, but he was too low to re-start the engine. The pilot made a forced landing north of the runway on airport property resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N84065
- Reported as
- Aeronca 7AC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 7AC-2752
- Airframe hours
- 7,400
- Engine
- Continental A-65-8, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 15, 2024 · 14 hours before
- Destination
- FVX · Farmville, VA
- Airport
- MTV · Blue Ridge, runway 13/31, 5,002 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B
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
- 64
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- BasicMed, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 1, 2024
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 5,750 total · 600 in this make and model · 5,400 as pilot in command · 42 in the last 90 days · 12 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 330° at 12 knots, gusting 16
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 32 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.06 inHg
- Observed at
- KMTV, 1 nm away
- METAR
- KMTV 011335Z AUTO 33012G16KT 10SM CLR 09/00 A3006 RMK AO2 T00910001
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 6, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.8 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.
Other investigations on N84065 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.