Incident Overview
On 28 January 2002, at 15:20 UTC, a Jabiru SK aircraft, registration CS-UHU, operated by PRIVADO, suffered an engine failure during takeoff from Pista de Santarém. The flight was a leisure flight with two persons on board. The aircraft sustained substantial damage, but no injuries were reported.
Flight Details
The aircraft departed Lezíria runway at 14:40 UTC for a northbound leisure flight with an estimated duration of 01:00 hour. On board were the pilot and one passenger. After 30 minutes of flight, the aircraft landed at Santarém, where the occupants took a 5-minute coffee break.
Sequence of Events
After the break, the pilot and passenger reboarded. The pilot started the engine, which was still warm, and immediately began taxiing to the runway, followed by takeoff to the south. The pre-start and pre-takeoff procedures were not performed using a checklist; no checklist was onboard.
Immediately after takeoff, the engine began to falter and eventually stopped. The pilot did not attempt to restart the engine and instead landed the aircraft straight ahead.
Damage and Injuries
The aircraft suffered substantial damage to its landing gear. The occupants did not sustain any injuries.
Probable Cause
After landing, the pilot discovered that the fuel valve was in the closed position. The engine failure occurred due to fuel starvation to the carburetor, as the closed fuel valve prevented fuel flow.
The probable cause, as stated in the investigation, is that the engine stoppage in flight resulted from lack of fuel in the carburetor because the fuel valve was closed.