- Date
- August 25, 1996, 12:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Kersey, CO
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N12JNCresap Early Bird Jenny
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 23, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960825023849A
- Case key
- 19957
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
Failure of the throttle linkage. A related factor was the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.
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 pilot said the throttle linkage broke while the airplane was in cruise flight. Engine power dropped to idle and the pilot was forced to land in a hay field. During the forced landing, the airplane collided with bales of hay and a pivot sprinkler.
Factual narrative
On August 25, 1996, approximately 1200 mountain daylight time, a Cresap Early Bird Jenny, N12JN, was destroyed during a forced landing near Kersey, Colorado. The private pilot sustained minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated approximately 30 minutes before the accident.
The pilot was sent NTSB Form 6120.1/2, Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report, to be completed and returned. After a reasonable period of time, the pilot was contacted and advised the report had not been received. The pilot claimed he had completed the report and put it in the mail. He adamantly refused to complete another report.
According to a verbal statement made by the pilot to FAA inspectors, the throttle linkage broke while the airplane was in cruise flight. Engine power dropped to idle and the pilot was forced to land in a hay field. During the forced landing, the airplane collided with bales of hay and a pivot sprinkler and was destroyed. FAA inspectors examined the airplane and confirmed the throttle linkage had broken.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N12JN
- Reported as
- Cresap Early Bird Jenny (EARLY BIRD)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 01
- Engine
- Unknown UNK/NA, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Dwight L. Cresap
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- 7CO4 · New Raymer, CO
- Destination
- 48V · Erie, CO
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
- 57
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Rear
- Flight hours
- 1,540 total · 60 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 190° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 75 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GXY, 15 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.