Virginia – Probable cause of student’s plane crash indentified by NTSB

The probable cause of a plane crash in Virginia that killed a 16-year-old student on a solo flight has been identified by the National Transportation Safety Board. The agency reports that the cause of the crash on March 29, 2015, was Ryan McCall’s failure to maintain adequate airspeed after takeoff from the Orange County Airport. The report adds that the plane’s engine performance may have degraded during takeoff, possibly contributing to the plane’s loss of control. The agency found that the engine’s carburetor produced too much fuel and that some of the spark plugs were weak. However, they couldn’t determine if those conditions had affected the engine.