Amateur-built RV9 N20YY accident near West Portsmouth, Ohio

Probable cause

The pilot’s improper use of the airplane’s fuel system, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.

NTSB analysis

The pilot reported he’d taken off and was about 10 minutes from the airport when the airplane’s engine lost power and began to descend. The pilot misdiagnosed the power loss as an electronic ignition problem and troubleshot it as such. However, after turning on the electric fuel pump and switching fuel tanks several times, the pilot was unable to restore engine power and elected to perform a forced landing to a field. During the forced landing the airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the rudder. Federal Aviation Administration inspectors reported that during a postaccident examination of the airplane the right fuel tank was empty, and the left fuel tank had about 4 gallons of fuel. The fuel selector had the right fuel tank selected. No other mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane were found that would have precluded normal operations. The pilot reported he spoke with the previous owner and was unaware that when switching fuel tanks, it could take about 10 seconds for the new tank to pick up fuel. The pilot reported that he had never run a fuel tank empty and was not familiar with how the engine would respond, and how long it would take for fuel to return to the engine when another fuel tank was selected.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN21LA250 for the full record.