CHI94LA187 · Beech C-23
Beech C-23 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI94LA187
- 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 C-23
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft C-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
- N18893
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW), Chicago, ILTo not recorded
- 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 downwind
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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
- Fuel exhaustion
- 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 › Preflight planning/preparation, improper
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Gary, IN, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
SHORTLY AFTER ENTERING A DOWNWIND LEG IN THE TRAFFIC PATTERN, THE ENGINE LOST POWER. THE PILOT STATED HE DID NOT TURN ONTO FINAL APPROACH UNTIL AFTER AN AIRPLANE ON FINAL APPROACH HAD PASSED BY HIM. THE PILOT SAID HE DECIDED TO MAKE AN OFF AIRPORT LANDING BECAUSE HE WAS TOO FAR FROM THE RUNWAY THRESHOLD. THE AIRPLANE'S RIGHT WING COLLIDED WITH A BARBED WIRE FENCE BEFORE IT STRUCK THE GROUND. THE PILOT SAID HE DEPARTED WITH ABOUT 15 GALLONS OF FUEL IN THE RIGHT WING TANK AND FIVE TO SEVEN GALLONS OF FUEL IN THE LEFT TANK. THE ON-SCENE INVESTIGATION REVEALED NO FUEL IN THE LEFT OR RIGHT TANKS. THERE WAS NO FUEL ODOR FOUND AROUND THE AIRPLANE OR THE FENCING STRUCK BY THE AIRPLANE.
Probable cause
IMPROPER PREFLIGHT PLANNING AND PREPARATION BY THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL EXHAUSTION. A FACTOR ASSOCIATED WITH THE ACCIDENT WAS THE DELAY IN EMERGENCY PROCEDURES BY THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI94LA187
- Event ID
- 20001206X01489
- Case number
- CHI94LA187
- 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: 5f506b2923693170c3a181fed4eb4845a0ee58ee2c46ef8ede44e0fd5d0ecf55; retrieved 2026-09-23T01:02:25.448Z.