ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 281475
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| Date: | Thursday 6 May 2021 |
| Time: | 16:07 LT |
| Type: |  Piper PA-28-161 |
| Owner/operator: | Hoffman Aviation Services LLC |
| Registration: | N54MC |
| MSN: | 28-7816208 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1977 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 7535 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming O-320-D3G |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Spring, Texas -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Standing |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Houston-David Wayne Hooks Airport, TX (DWH/KDWH) |
| Spring, TX | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The flight instructor and student pilot were landing the airplane during an instructional flight when they noticed a loss of engine power during landing rollout. After exiting the runway, the flight instructor was able to restart the engine on the second attempt. The pilots subsequently noticed that an engine fire had developed, shut down the engine, and exited the airplane. The fire substantially damaged the engine mount and firewall before it could be extinguished.
The flight crew turned the electric fuel pump on before landing in accordance with normal operating procedure, and the flight instructor did not turn it off before exiting the airplane [as called for by the emergency procedure for an engine fire]. Postaccident examination revealed that with the electric fuel pump turned on, fuel leaked from the carburetor into the air box. The carburetor was disassembled with no anomalies observed. The fuel leaking from the carburetor was likely due to the electric fuel pump over-pressurizing the carburetor needle/seat assembly, which allowed the carburetor bowl to overfill. The leaking fuel likely came in contact with hot exhaust pipes and ignited, which resulted in the engine fire.
Probable Cause: An engine fire that resulted from a fuel leak into the carburetor air box due to the electric fuel pump over-pressurizing the carburetor needle/seat assembly. Contributing to the severity of the fire was the flight instructor's failure to turn off the electric fuel pump before exiting the airplane.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB CEN21LA211
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 13-Aug-2022 10:13 | ASN Update Bot | Added |
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