CHI99LA095 · Beech C23
Beech C23 · Accident: loss of engine power on approach
From Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (MKC) to Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (MKC)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI99LA095
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Beech C23
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 23
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N6014F
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (MKC)To Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (MKC)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach · VFR pattern base
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of engine power
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Wire, transmission
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot stated that while turning left, to base leg, the engine started to lose power and he immediately checked the throttle and mixture controls. The pilot reported that the throttle and mixture controls were in the 'Full' position. The pilot reported that the engine then began to accelerate and decelerate without throttle or mixture control inputs. The pilot stated, 'Again the engine sounded as if it would come back and then abruptly stopped.' In an interview with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Inspectors, the pilot reported that he switched fuel tanks and checked for carburetor icing on the downwind portion of his traffic pattern for Runway 01. An examination of the aircraft was conducted at the accident site. The fuel selector was found in the 'Off' position, the throttle and mixture were found in the 'Full' positions, carburetor heat was 'Cold', the magneto switch was on 'Both', boost pump was 'On', and the master switch was found in the 'Off' position. It was reported that crash/rescue selected the master switch from 'On' to the 'Off' position. No other flight controls or instruments were reported to be changed. Examination of the engine revealed no anomalies that would prevent operation of the engine. There was approximately eight gallons of Aviation grade 100 Low Lead fuel found in the right fuel tank. The left tank was compromised in the accident sequence. The engine was installed on a test stand and subjected to a functional test run. The engine was found to run without any anomalous behavior.
Probable cause
the pilot's improper positioning of the fuel selector. Factors to the accident were the transmission wires, the building, and the flood levy wall.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI99LA095
- Event ID
- 20001205X00137
- Case number
- CHI99LA095
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1999-02-22.
- API snapshot SHA-256: bba418205fd796293a6854864b38515bc7d142f5c2cba32cd8d0add4478da0d6; retrieved 2026-09-21T20:36:06.533Z.