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FTW94FA091 · Cessna 310K

3 Mar 1994 · Wichita Falls, TX, United States

Ari Ben Aviator Cessna 310K · Accident: airframe, component or system failure en route

From Addison Airport (ADS) to Centennial Airport (APA)

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Event

NTSB case
FTW94FA091
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
4 · 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 310K

Aircraft type
Cessna 310
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
N474AR
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Addison Airport (ADS), Dallas, TXTo Centennial Airport (APA), Denver, CO
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
En route · cruise
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
Airframe, component or system failure
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

  • Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Spatial disorientation

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE AIRPLANE WAS AT AN IFR ASSIGNED ALTITUDE OF 8,000 FEET ON A DARK VMC NIGHT, WHEN ATC REPORTED THAT THEY WERE NO LONGER RECEIVING THEIR TRANSPONDER. THE PILOT ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THEY WERE EXPERIENCING ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS IN THE COCKPIT, BUT WERE TRYING TO WORK OUT THE SITUATION. A FEW MINUTES LATER THEY LOST RADAR CONTACT AS THE AIRPLANE INITIATED A DESCENT TOWARDS A NEARBY JOINT USE MILITARY-CIVILIAN AIRPORT SERVED BY APPROACH CONTROL RADAR. THE AIRPLANE WAS NOT IDENTIFIED BUT WAS TRACKED ON PRIMARY RADAR TO A POINT 2.8 MILES FROM THE AIRPORT. DURING THE LAST FEW MILES OF THE FLIGHT, THE AIRPLANE WAS HEADED WESTBOUND OVER SPARSELY POPULATED RURAL AREA THAT OFFERED MINIMAL OR NO VISUAL REFERENCE IN THE DARK NIGHT. WITNESSES IN THE AREA REPORTED HEARING THE SOUND OF AIRPLANE ENGINES FOLLOWED BY THE SOUND OF IMPACT. THE AIRPLANE IMPACTED THE GROUND INVERTED, WITH THE LANDING GEAR EXTENDED BY EMERGENCY MODE. THE LEFT GENERATOR WAS FOUND TO BE INOPERATIVE, AND THE GROUNDING WIRE FROM THE RIGHT VOLTAGE REGULATOR WAS FOUND TO HAVE A BURNED OUT TERMINAL END. THE PILOT RATED PASSENGER HAD A FLASH LIGHT IN HIS HAND.

Probable cause

WAS THE LOSS OF CONTROL DUE TO THE PILOT'S SPATIAL DISORIENTATION FOLLOWING A COMPLETE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM FAILURE. FACTORS WERE THE DARK NIGHT AND THE ELECTRICAL FAILURE AS RESULT OF BURNED OUT WIRING TERMINAL.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW94FA091
Event ID
20001206X00891
Case number
FTW94FA091
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 1994-03-04.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 096db941d8cdaeca3085392455b35a5ac51e7d7903f957243c562ccc0ab431fd; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:13:59.841Z.