- Date
- June 18, 1989, 15:34 local (19:34 UTC)
- Place
- Lantana, FL
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N2UMUhley-Mason R.A.F. VARI-EZE
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 11, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890618015879A
- Case key
- 32298
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
Pilots inadvertent turning off of the engine ignition switches resulting in engine failure.
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
Witnesses stated the eng failed abruptly as the acft made a right turn after takeoff. The eng was placed on a test stand after the accident and operated to full power with no evidence of failure or malfunction. Uncontaminated fuel was found in the airframe and eng fuel system after the accident. The eng ignition switches were destroyed in the accident and the position of these switches could not be determined. Witnesses to the accident observed the eng operate on the test stand and when the ignition switches were turned off the eng failed abruptly. They identified this failure mode as similar to the inflight failure of the eng. The other owner of the acft stated he had inadvertently turned off the ignition switches a few years before when he bumped them while closing the air vent. He stated the point in this flight that the eng failed would have been the point the plt would have closed the air vent.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2UM
- Reported as
- Uhley-Mason R.A.F. VARI-EZE (R.A.F. VAR)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 705
- Airframe hours
- 661
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 118 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Slattery, Eugene M.
- Registered owner
- P.A. Mason And E. M. Slattery
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 17, 1989 · 1 hours before
- Departed
- LNA · Lantana, FL
- Destination
- BCT · Boca Raton, FL
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
- 58
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 185 total · 89 in this make and model · 125 as pilot in command · 2 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 13 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PBI, 6 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.