- Date
- August 16, 1996, 19:10 local (23:10 UTC)
- Place
- Plant City, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N7053FCessna 150F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 16, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960816023039A
- Case key
- 38075
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
a loss of engine power due to fuel contamination, resulting in a forced landing, and subsequent nose over. A factor in this accident was an inadequate aircraft pre-flight
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 flight had taken off from runway 9, and had climbed to an altitude of about 150 feet mean sea level, when the airplane's engine lost power. The pilot elected to make an off airport landing, turned the airplane to the left to clear trees, touched down in a field, and nosed over. Examination of the wreckage revealed that 2 ounces of fuel was drained from the gascolator, about 3/4 of an ounce of the fuel was water, and 1 ounce of water was drained from the carburetor bowl. The engine rotated freely and no discrepancies were found. In addition, this airplane had flown only 5 hours in the past 12 months, and had not been fueled, before this flight, since sometime in February 1996.
Factual narrative
On August 16, 1996, about 1910 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 150F, N7053F, registered to a private owner, operating as a 14 CFR Part 91, personal flight, crashed in the vicinity of Plant City, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The airplane was substantially damaged. The private pilot was not injured.
The flight had taken off from runway 9, and had climbed to an altitude of about 150 feet mean sea level, when the airplane's engine lost power. The pilot elected to make an off airport landing, turned the airplane to the left to clear trees, touched down in a field, and nosed over.
Examination of the wreckage by the FAA revealed that 2 ounces of fuel was drained from the gascolator, and about 3/4 of an ounce of the fuel was water. In addition, 1 ounce of water was drained from the carburetor bowl. The engine rotated freely and no discrepancies were found.
According to the FAA inspector's statement, "...[this] aircraft [had] flown only 5 hours in over 12 months, [and was] not fueled since sometime in February 1996, possible engine failure due to fuel contamination."
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7053F
- Reported as
- Cessna 150F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15063653
- Airframe hours
- 4,497
- Engine
- Continental O-200A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Kimball W. Wetherington
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 7, 1996 · 4 hours before
- Airport
- PCM · Plant City
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
- 37
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 165 total · 122 in this make and model · 140 as pilot in command · 2 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 145° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.