- Date
- April 9, 1993, 17:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- East Moriches, NY
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- UNREGFawcett Titan Tornado
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 3, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 37305
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
The loss of engine power for undetermined reasons.
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 student pilot departed from the airport in his unregistered, single seat, home built airplane. His daughter was seated on his lap, between his body and the flight controls. According to the student pilot, at approximately 400 feet mean sea level, the engine lost power. He attempted a landing on a dirt road in a nearby tree nursery and the airplane collided with the terrain. The student considered this an ultralight, but he estimated it had a speed of 95 to 100 mph, its empty weight was about 300 lbs, and its 10 gal fuel tank had about 8 gal of fuel remaining. There were no records for the aircraft and the pilot owner could not supply a list of installed components to compute its empty weight.
Aircraft
- Registration
- UNREG
- Reported as
- Fawcett Titan Tornado (TITAN TORN)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Airframe hours
- 6
- Engine
- Rotax 503, 50 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- John Fawcett
- Registered owner
- John Fawcett
- Last inspection
- Unknown · January 2, 2000 · 6 hours before
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 39
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 25 total · 6 in this make and model · 11 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 57 °F