- Date
- April 20, 1985, 14:45 local (19:45 UTC)
- Place
- Connellsville, PA
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N39322Istvanick Zipppy Sport
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850420013649A
- Case key
- 35594
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
The acft contacted trees following a loss of pwr shortly after takeoff. Plt stated he performed 3 high speed taxi runs during which the acft and eng operated normally. Witnesses stated the acft became airborne on the 4th taxi run, climbed to aprx 75 ft AGL and began losing alt when a left turn to downwind was entered. Inspection of the acft disclosed the 2 position fuel selector valve was stiff to move. Removal of the selector valve revealed the rotating shaft seal gasket had deteriorated blocking aprx 50% of the inlet fuel flow and aprx 60-65% of the outlet fuel flow. This was the 1st flt of the experimental homebuilt acft.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N39322
- Reported as
- Istvanick Zipppy Sport (ZIPPPY SPO)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 003
- Engine
- Revmaster SAA CITRUEN, 32 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- James Istvanick
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Unknown · July 5, 1984 · 0 hours before
- Airport
- 2G3 · Connellsville, runway 23, 3,840 × 100 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
- 69
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 3,800 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.