VANS RV6 — Porterville, CA

What happened

The pilot departed from his home airport earlier in the day and landed at the accident airport to refuel. The pilot refueled the airplane with about 17.5 gallons and then started the engine. A witness reported the engine start sounded as though it was a “hot start” with the airplane rpm’s immediately accelerating to a near-maximum setting. The airplane then proceeded to take off and, as it climbed, the engine was making “popping” sounds. Surveillance video showed the airplane made a hard right bank, with the wings near perpendicular to the ground, consistent with the pilot attempting to return to the airport. A performance study of the video revealed that when the airplane reached its maximum altitude of about 240 ft, its ground speed had decreased well below the stall speed. The airplane then assumed a wings-level attitude consistent with the pilot correcting for the steep attitude. Thereafter, the airplane rapidly descended in a left-wing-low attitude nearly perpendicular to the terrain before impacting the ground and immediately erupted into flames.

Postaccident examination revealed that the keys were out of the ignition and the fuel selector was in the “OFF” position. Given the available evidence it is unknown if the pilot had intentionally chosen to configure the airplane with the selector off.

The engine examination revealed no obvious reason for the loss of engine power as described by the witness. The fuel system was partially destroyed by fire; as a result, the continuity and functionality of the fuel system could not be ascertained.

An editorial "what led to it / how to avoid it" analysis for this accident is generated separately and will appear here.