Piper PA-28-161 N54MC

Summary

On 6 May 2021 at about 22:07 local time, a Piper PA-28-161 registered N54MC, operated by Hoffman Aviation Services LLC, was involved in an accident near Spring, Texas, United States. 2 people were 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

6 May 2021 at 22:07

Classification

Accident

Location

Spring, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

David Wayne Hooks Meml (DWH)

Coordinates

30.0618, -95.5528

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-161

Registration

N54MC

Category

Airplane

Year built

1977

Engines

1

Operator

Hoffman Aviation Services LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Spring → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN21LA211

Nobody was injured.

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.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

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.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.