Progressive Aerodyne SEAREY N801SR

Summary

On 23 August 2016 at about 19:00 local time, a Progressive Aerodyne SEAREY registered N801SR was involved in an accident near Sebring, Florida, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 were seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

23 August 2016 at 19:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Sebring, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Sebring Regional Airport (SEF)

Coordinates

27.4622, -81.3442

Aircraft

Progressive Aerodyne SEAREY

Registration

N801SR

Category

Airplane

Year built

2001

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Sebring → Sebring

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA16LA299

2 people were seriously injured.

A disconnected ground wire during initial climb, which degraded the fuel boost pumps’ performance and resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During initial climb on an instructional flight in the experimental amateur-built airplane, about 200 ft above ground level, the engine began running rough. The flight instructor immediately decreased the airplane's angle of attack and the engine subsequently experienced a total loss of power. The flight instructor tried to land on the remaining runway; however, the airplane landed hard and struck an embankment. Examination of the airplane revealed wiring that contained mismatched wire gauges and splices throughout the wiring harnesses. The ground wire for the master arm solenoid was disconnected from the back of the ignition switch. Without this ground wire, the battery was disconnected from the airplane's electrical system. The airplane's rectifier kept the fuel boost pumps running per the wiring diagrams; however, a postaccident engine run revealed that the rectifier was weak and only displacing 12.3 volts, rather than its nominal output voltage of 13.5 +/- 0.2 volts. It is likely that, during takeoff, the ground wire became disconnected from the ignition switch and the weak rectifier could not adequately supply the high electrical load requirements imposed by the fuel boost pumps, the landing gear motors retracting the gear, and the strobe lights. This degraded the performance of the fuel boost pumps, resulting in fuel starvation and a total loss of engine power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.