Champion 7FC N4878E

Summary

On 3 October 2023 at about 22:00 local time, a Champion 7FC registered N4878E was involved in an accident near Hawkinsville, Georgia, 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

3 October 2023 at 22:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Hawkinsville, Georgia, United States

Coordinates

32.2620, -83.4965

Aircraft

Champion 7FC

Registration

N4878E

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Hawkinsville → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA24LA023

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the carburetor fuel line, which resulted in fuel starvation.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that about halfway through the flight the engine started to lose power. Unable to regain sufficient power, the pilot made an emergency landing in a field; the airplane collided with a stump and sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. Postaccident examination of the engine revealed fuel staining on the inside of the engine cowling due to the carburetor fuel line leaking from the braided outer casing. Examination of the fuel line revealed that it was brittle and cracked on the inside, which prevented fuel from being supplied to the carburetor.Not in docket. After the fuel line was removed and replaced with a serviceable line, the engine was started and ran continuously with no anomalies noted. No entries were found in the maintenance logbooks that showing replacement of the fuel line. The last inspection entry in the engine logbook was an annual inspection dated 6 months before the accident, that noted an inspection of the fuel system. An external visual check of the fuel line alone would not have alerted the mechanic to its condition.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.