- Date
- March 22, 1985, 12:40 local (17:40 UTC)
- Place
- Leesburg, FL
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N4EYCessna P337H
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850322012129A
- Case key
- 31236
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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
On the morning of 3/22/85, the plt arrived at the Leesburg muni arpt to pick up an acft that had been painted. Aprx 4 weeks earlier, the acft had been ferried there for the paint job. The plt said that during takeoff, both engs lost power at about 300 ft AGL & he tried to turn back to the arpt. Several witnesses said that they saw the acft turning in a nose hi attitude, then it spun into trees. An exam of the crash site revealed that the acft was in a steep descent when it crashed. Water was found in the front & rear gascolators & fuel injection manifold valves. Both outboard scupper drains were clogged with dirt. Also, both fuel caps were found to be defective & would allow water to leak into the tanks.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4EY
- Reported as
- Cessna P337H
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- P3370320
- Airframe hours
- 802
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-360-C, 225 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Ferry · Part 91
- Operator
- Foster B.Burdette
- Registered owner
- Burdette Realty Improvements,
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 4, 1985 · 26 hours before
- Destination
- MLB · Melbourne, FL
- Airport
- LEE · Leesburg Muni, runway 31, 4,984 × 150 ft, asphalt
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
- 47
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,100 total · 2,600 in this make and model · 2,400 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 250° at 11 knots
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,300 ft broken
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 66 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ORL
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.