- Date
- March 2, 1990, 13:50 local (18:50 UTC)
- Place
- Brooksville, FL
- Injuries
- 2 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N16CSZimmerman Varieze
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 4, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900302003019A
- Case key
- 32627
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
Loss of engine power for undetermined reasons during the initial climb shortly after takeoff.
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 plt stated the fuel tanks were topped off 4 days before the accident & the acft was hangared & not flown until a 45 minute flt earlier that day. Before departing on the return flt, he performed a preflt inspn & eng run-up of the acft & noted no contaminants in the fuel system or eng malfunction. Shortly after takeoff at an alt of 300 ft, the eng began to run rough, then quit. During a forced landing, the acft nosed over after touching down in a field. One of the fuel tanks was damaged, but there was no fire. The other fuel tank was checked for contamination, none was found. Exam of the eng revealed no evidence of catastrophic failure or malfunction. The reported temp was 77 & the dew point 62, which was in the 'serious icing-glide power' range of the carb icing probability chart.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N16CS
- Reported as
- Zimmerman Varieze
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 2078
- Airframe hours
- 480
- Engine
- Continental O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Culpepper, David G.
- Registered owner
- Culpepper, David G
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 8, 1989 · 108 hours before
- Destination
- SFB · Sanford, FL
- Airport
- BKV · Hornando County, runway 20, 5,000 × 150 ft, dirt
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
- 22
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 257 total · 33 in this make and model · 179 as pilot in command · 13 in the last 90 days · 9 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 23,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TPA, 30 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.