FTW94FA082 · Cessna 421C
Cessna 421C · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb
From San Antonio International Airport (SAT) to Maverick County Memorial International Airport (EGP)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW94FA082
- 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
- 2 · 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
Cessna 421C
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 421
- 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
- N741CA
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From San Antonio International Airport (SAT)To Maverick County Memorial International Airport (EGP), Eagle Pass, TX
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Tree(s)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Fbo personnel › Maintenance, service of aircraft/equipment, improper
- Fluid, fuel grade › Improper
- Miscellaneous, engine pre-ignition and/or detonation
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, THE PILOT REPORTED HE HAD 'A PROBLEM' AND NEEDED TO RETURN IMMEDIATELY. WITNESSES OBSERVED DARK BLACK SMOKE COMING FROM BOTH ENGINES. THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH A TREE 1/2-MILE NORTHEAST OF THE RUNWAY THRESHOLD. ANALYSIS OF FUEL SAMPLES REVEALED THE PRESENCE OF APPROXIMATELY 50% JET FUEL. THE RIGHT PROPELLER WAS FOUND FEATHERED AND ENGINE DISASSEMBLY REVEALED A HOLE BURNED IN THE RIGHT ENGINE NUMBER 5 PISTON. LEFT ENGINE DISASSEMBLY REVEALED PISTON EDGES ERODED DOWN TO THE FIRST COMPRESSION RING. FUEL FILLER RESTRICTORS HAD BEEN INSTALLED IN THE AIRPLANE'S FUEL TANKS, BUT THE FUEL TRUCK DID NOT HAVE THE RESTRICTIVE MATING NOZZLE. THE FUEL TRUCK WAS OWNED BY THE FUEL VENDER AND LEASED TO THE FBO.
Probable cause
IMPROPER SERVICING OF THE AIRPLANE WITH JET FUEL, WHICH RESULTED IN PREIGNITION AND/OR DETONATION AND SUBSEQUENT FAILURE OF PISTONS IN BOTH ENGINES. A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS: THE LACK OF A RESTRICTIVE MATING NOZZLE ON THE REFUELING TRUCK.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW94FA082
- Event ID
- 20001206X00743
- Case number
- FTW94FA082
- 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: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: ce93c274e9d76172c983de75c53dc012d3919f0aed5219673ee45a35244837e2; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:14:57.982Z.