23 Oct 2019: Vans RV 6 Undesignat

23 Oct 2019: Vans RV 6 Undesignat (N615RJ) — Unknown operator

No fatalities • Spanaway, WA, United States

Probable cause

A total loss of engine power during the initial climb for reasons that could not be determined.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On October 23, 2019, about 1200 Pacific daylight time, an experimental, amateur-built RV-6 airplane, N615RJ, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Spanaway, Washington. The pilot sustained minor injury and the passenger sustained serious injuries. The airplane was and operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot reported that the initial taxi and engine run-up were normal; however, during the takeoff roll, the engine sputtered and the pilot aborted the takeoff. A subsequent engine run-up revealed no anomalies, and the pilot elected to take off again. As the airplane climbed through about 200 ft above ground level, the engine began to sputter and, shortly after, lost all power. The pilot performed a forced landing to an open field near the airport, resulting in substantial damage. The pilot reported 18 gallons of fuel onboard before departure. The engine was examined following recovery from the accident site. The engine controls were continuous from the cockpit to the engine. The crankshaft was rotated by hand at the propeller and continuity was established through the valve train. Thumb compression was obtained on each cylinder. Both left and right magnetos produced spark at their terminal leads. The top spark plugs were removed and displayed normal operating signatures. Functional testing of the engine-driven fuel pump and throttle body injector revealed no anomalies. An unquantified amount of fuel remained in each of the wing fuel tanks and displayed no evidence of contamination. The amount of fuel onboard at the time of the accident was not determined.

Contributing factors

  • Engine (reciprocating)

Conditions

Weather
VMC, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.