Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Seward Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Seward, Nebraska 68434
Sunday, September 4, 2011 9:35 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight instructor, who was seated in the front seat, was giving the private pilot, who was seated in the rear seat, a check-out in the single-engine biplane. The engine lost power on takeoff, and the airplane impacted a field. Examination of the airplane and engine revealed no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation; however the mixture control lever, which was located below and to the left of the rear-seated pilot's left knee (there was no mixture control in the front seat), was pulled out about 2 inches. The lever should have been full forward during takeoff. The propeller control was situated directly below the mixture control and found in the full forward position. The propeller control lever is usually adjusted by the pilot after takeoff. Although the mixture and propeller control levers were color-coded, it's possible that the 6'5" private pilot's left knee blocked his view of the controls due to his size and the small cockpit. The mixture control knob was slightly larger than the propeller control knob, but both were similar in shape. It is possible that the pilot thought he was adjusting the propeller control rather than the mixture control on takeoff and inadvertently shut off fuel to the engine. Postaccident examination of the mixture control cable from the cockpit to the engine revealed it moved freely and there was no evidence it had been moved during impact.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot’s inadvertent pulling of the mixture control lever on takeoff, which shut down the engine.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/4/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 935 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Seward |
| Event State | NEBRASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 68434 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 405226N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0970629W |
| Event Location Airport | Seward Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SWT |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.6 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 1506 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 954 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LNK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1219 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 16 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 350 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.24 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KLNK 041454Z 35006KT 10SM CLR 18/11 A3024 RM |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 31187 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 23 2013 11:53AM |
| User who most recently changed record | coln |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N88CE |
| NTSB Number | CEN11FA616 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | LARSON KEN W |
| Aircraft Model | CHRISTEN EAGLE-II |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | LARSON-0001 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1600 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Mark Pearson |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Plymouth |
| Aircraft Owner State | NE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 68424 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Mark Pearson |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Plymouth |
| Operator State | NE |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 68424 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | SWT |
| Departure City | Seward |
| Departure State | NE |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | SWT |
| Destination City | Seward |
| Destination State | NE |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 4 2013 1:17PM |
| User who most recently changed record | yeal |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 34 |
| Runway Length | 4200 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |