Terry ZENITH 801 N54RX

Summary

On 10 November 2001 at about 21:00 local time, a Terry ZENITH 801 registered N54RX was involved in an accident near Manvel, Texas, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

10 November 2001 at 21:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Manvel, Texas, United States

Coordinates

29.4808, -95.3493

Aircraft

Terry ZENITH 801

Registration

N54RX

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Friendswood → Manvel

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW02LA035

Nobody was injured.

loss of engine power while maneuvering for an undetermined reason. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The amateur-built airplane was at 1,500 feet msl and maneuvering at a slow airspeed for 7-8 minutes when the engine lost power. The pilot switched fuel tanks, restarted the engine, and continued the flight toward a nearby airport. Prior to reaching the airport, the engine again lost power. The pilot initiated a forced landing to a highway. Due to traffic on the highway, the pilot had to delayed the landing, which resulted in the airplane continuing towards power lines. As the pilot "quickly landed the airplane," the nose landing gear collapsed, and the airplane came to a stop upright on the highway. During an examination of the airplane, 3 inches of fuel was found in both of the fuel tanks, and over 15 gallons of fuel was drained. Upon further inspection of the fuel system, no blockages were found in the fuel lines, and the gascolator was clean. The pilot suspected that a vacuum was created in both of the fuel tanks since there were no fuel tank vents, except for the vents in the fuel caps. The airplane had accumulated 5 hours at the time of the accident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.