Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Chicago/Aurora Muni Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Aurora, Illinois 60554
Saturday, June 21, 2008 12:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot experienced a complete loss of engine power during initial climb after takeoff. The airplane was about 1 mile from the airport at 2,000 feet mean sea level at the time. The pilot elected to return to the airport for landing and notified the air traffic control tower accordingly. The cockpit began to fill with smoke, and shortly afterward the pilot reported noticing a fire in the cockpit near the firewall. The pilot successfully continued an approach to the departure runway, intermittently losing visual contact with the runway due to the smoke in the cockpit. On short final, he applied full left aileron and rudder inputs in an attempt to align the airplane for landing; however, the aileron control failed at that time. The airplane landed hard and the left main landing gear collapsed. The airplane spun around and came to rest about 1,500 feet from the runway threshold. The pilot successfully evacuated the airplane, which was subsequently consumed by the fire. The post accident examination was unable to locate the exact source of the fire. The pilot commented that the extent and rapid progression of the fire was consistent with a failure in the high-pressure fuel system.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
An undetermined failure in the high-pressure fuel system, and the subsequent loss of engine power and in-flight fire. Contributing to the accident were the pilot's restricted visibility due to the smoke in the cockpit, failure of the aileron control during landing flare, and the collapse of the left main landing gear due to the hard landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/21/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1230 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Aurora |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 60554 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 414619N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0882832W |
| Event Location Airport | Chicago/Aurora Muni |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ARR |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 712 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1252 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ARR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 712 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 7500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 28 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.99 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24449 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 21 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 14 2008 11:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | sort |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-DuPage FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N345JM |
| NTSB Number | CHI08LA169 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground and In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Morrison |
| Aircraft Model | E-Racer |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 113 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2240 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 365 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | John K. Morrison |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Aurora |
| Aircraft Owner State | IL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 60506 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | ARR |
| Departure City | Aurora |
| Departure State | IL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1225 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | C16 |
| Destination City | Urbana |
| Destination State | IL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | -- |
| User who most recently changed record | -- |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 27 |
| Runway Length | 6501 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |