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| Date: | Tuesday 3 October 2023 |
| Time: | 18:00 |
| Type: |  American Champion 7FC |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | N4878E |
| MSN: | 7FC-316 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | near Hawkinsville, GA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Columbus-Metropolitan Area, GA (CSG/KCSG) |
| Columbus-Metropolitan Area, GA (CSG/KCSG) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On October 3, 2023, about 1800 eastern daylight time, a Champion 7FC, N4878E, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Hawkinsville, Georgia. The commercial pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 personal flight.
The pilot reported that about halfway through the flight the engine started to lose power. Unable to regain sufficient power, the pilot made an emergency landing in a field; the airplane collided with a stump and sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.
Postaccident examination of the engine revealed fuel staining on the inside of the engine cowling due to the carburetor fuel line leaking from the braided outer casing. Examination of the fuel line revealed that it was brittle and cracked on the inside, which prevented fuel from being supplied to the carburetor. After the fuel line was removed and replaced with a serviceable line, the engine was started and ran continuously with no anomalies noted.
No entries were found in the maintenance logbooks that showing replacement of the fuel line. The last inspection entry in the engine logbook was an annual inspection dated 6 months before the accident, that noted an inspection of the fuel system. An external visual check of the fuel line alone would not have alerted the mechanic to its condition.
Probable Cause: The failure of the carburetor fuel line, which resulted in fuel starvation.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/plane-crash-in-georgia-two-men-walk-away-without-scratch-near-hawkinsville/93-022b741b-4f41-4deb-bee7-4aac66cc4306
https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=193315
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 04-Oct-2023 19:45 | Captain Adam | Added |
| 05-Oct-2023 13:44 | RobertMB | Updated |
| 18-Dec-2024 22:24 | Captain Adam | Updated [Time, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category, Accident report, ] |
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