3 Jul 2020: Champion 7EC No Series

3 Jul 2020: Champion 7EC No Series (N9891B) — Unknown operator

No fatalities • Port O'Conner, TX, United States

Probable cause

The loss of engine power due to a stuck intake valve.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On July 3, 2020, about 1215 central daylight time, a Champion 7EC airplane, N9891B, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Port O'Connor, Texas. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. According to the pilot, after adding fuel to the airplane, he departed from the Calhoun County Airport (KPKV) and flew along the coastline. About 15 minutes into the flight, the engine lost power. He established best glide airspeed and turned the airplane towards land. The airplane would not hold altitude and impacted terrain and brush about 400 yards from the coastline. A small post-crash fire developed in the engine compartment; substantial damaged was noted to the wing struts and bottom fuselage. Damage was also found on the main landing gear and propeller. The wreckage was recovered to a hangar and an engine examination was conducted. The examination found that the No. 3 intake valve was stuck in the open position. A reason for the stuck valve was not identified. It was also noted that the valve springs on all the cylinders were weak; however, it could not be determined if this was due to heat from the post-crash engine compartment fire. No other pre-impact abnormalities were found.

Contributing factors

  • cause Malfunction

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 230/06kt, 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.