Williams KITFOX N9KF

Summary

On 22 March 1997 at about 16:25 local time, a Williams KITFOX registered N9KF was involved in an accident near Wasilla, Alaska, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

22 March 1997 at 16:25

Classification

Accident

Location

Wasilla, Alaska, United States

Nearest airport

Wolf Lake Airstrip

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Williams KITFOX

Registration

N9KF

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC97LA036

1 person had minor injuries.

a broken electrical wire, which resulted in an inoperative electrical fuel pump, an overly lean mixture, fuel starvation, and loss of engine power.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot departed a private airstrip after performing a stop-and-go landing in a home built airplane. The airplane climbed to about 200 ft above the ground, and the pilot heard a loud popping sound. The engine quit running, and a turn was made toward a nearby road. The pilot made an emergency landing on the road, but the right wing struck a tree during the landing roll. The engine was a modified automotive engine. The propeller was not directly bolted to the crankshaft of the engine. The design used a reduction gearbox between the crankshaft and the propeller. The design allowed the propeller to free-wheel when not being powered by the engine. The manufacturer indicated the fuel system used a throttle body injection that would operate on as little as 1/2 psi, and gravity flow from wing mounted fuel tanks was sufficient to allow the engine to operate at 75 percent power. The fuel system used an electric fuel pump to supply fuel pressure to the throttle body fuel injection for cold starting. The pump was electrically powered via an electrical jumper wire from the battery bus to the pump. The pilot indicated that during a postaccident examination of the airplane, he found the electrical jumper wire broken. The pilot also indicated an overly lean mixture condition would have resulted when the engine was operated at full power without the fuel pump.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.