Originally Posted by
Sam Rutherford
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
• The partial loss of engine power during takeoff initial climb in high-density altitude conditions for reasons that could not be determined because a postaccident examination of the airplane and engine revealed no anomalies.
As a sometime licensed engineer investigating engine failure due to contaminated fuel I would expect dirt in the filter, sediment bowl, carb well or jet(s). If the supply was contaminated by (say) avtur such contaminant would still be in the aircraft tank and in the samples kept by the fuel supplier both daily and after every fuel delivery. Yet there were
no anomalies.