- Date
- November 18, 1989, 15:30 local (23:30 UTC)
- Place
- Vancouver, WA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N3354HErcoupe 415D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 25, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19891118045789A
- Case key
- 41149
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 pilot's inadvertant leaning of the fuel mixture to near idle cutoff, causing the engine to quit.
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
During initial climb at 200 ft AGL after takeoff, the aircraft engine quit. The pilot made a forced landing in an open field, and upon touchdown, the aircraft nosed over. The FAA inspector who examined the wreckage, reported the magneto switch was on both, the mixture control was near idle cutoff and the carb heat control was full forward in the cold position. The mixture control was located next to the carb heat control.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3354H
- Reported as
- Ercoupe 415D
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 3979
- Airframe hours
- 2,900
- Engine
- Continental C-85-F-12, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Donald C. Jeffery
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 9, 1988 · 80 hours before
- Airport
- 59S · Evergreen, runway 28, 2,545 × 42 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
- 56
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 95 total · 52 in this make and model · 131 in the last 90 days · 130 in the last 30 days · 129 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 54 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PDX, 4 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.