Durfee Fred QUICKSILVER MXL N2590B

Summary

On 22 July 2013 at about 19:00 local time, a Durfee Fred QUICKSILVER MXL registered N2590B was involved in an accident near Lexington, Tennessee, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

22 July 2013 at 19:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Lexington, Tennessee, United States

Nearest airport

Private Airstrip (NONE)

Coordinates

35.6033, -88.3675

Aircraft

Durfee Fred QUICKSILVER MXL

Registration

N2590B

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Lexington → Lexington

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA13LA347

1 person was seriously injured.

The student pilot/builder’s failure to maintain airspeed following a loss of engine power, which resulted in an exceedance of the wing’s critical angle-of-attack and a subsequent aerodynamic stall. Contributing to the accident was the student pilot/builder’s inadequate procedures to ensure a clean fuel supply to the engine, which resulted in a clogged fuel filter and the subsequent loss of engine power.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The student pilot, who was also the builder of the airplane, took off from a pasture, and, shortly thereafter, the engine quit. The student pilot turned the airplane back toward the pasture, but while approaching it, the airplane stalled and then impacted the ground. The student pilot subsequently found that the fuel filter was clogged, which likely resulted in fuel starvation to the engine. According to the student pilot, he did not have a way to check the fuel quality onboard the airplane, and the airplane's last inspection was completed over 5 years earlier. The student pilot did not note when or if the fuel system had ever been flushed or if the fuel filter was ever changed, but he speculated that the containers he used to transport fuel from a local gas station might have collected dust over time from filling or draining. The student pilot reported only 10 hours of total flight time, all in the accident airplane make and model, which coincided with the 5+ years he had been operating the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.