FTW94FA282 · Cessna 402
Cessna 402 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb
From an unrecorded airport to MMA · Matamoros
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW94FA282
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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 402
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 402
- 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
- N966JW
- Operator
- Carey, Michael A. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo MMA · Matamoros
- 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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
- Partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
- 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
- Stall
- 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 › Airspeed, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Harlingen, TX, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
FOLLOWING UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO START THE ENGINES, A MECHANIC REMOVED THE 'P' LEADS ON ALL MAGNETOS MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO COMPLETE THE RUN-UP CHECKS. SECONDS AFTER GEAR RETRACTION THE AIRPLANE VELOCITY DECREASED AND FROM ABOUT 200 FEET MSL, A FORCED LANDING WAS MADE TO A PLOWED FIELD. PASSENGERS REPORTED HEARING THE STALL WARNING. ENGINE CONTINUITY WAS CONFIRMED. DIFFERENTIAL COMPRESSION CHECKS FOUND 4 CYLINDERS BELOW 60 PSI FOR THE LEFT AND 5 CYLINDERS BELOW 60 PSI FOR THE RIGHT. POINTS ON ALL MAGNETOS WERE BURNED AND THE LEFT MAGNETO ON EACH ENGINE WOULD NOT FIRE. ALL SPARK PLUGS EXHIBITED WEAR AND DEPOSITS IN THE ELECTRODES. BOTTOM PLUGS FROM THE LEFT ENGINE CYLINDERS #3 AND #5 WOULD NOT FIRE AND THE BOTTOM PLUGS FROM THE RIGHT ENGINE CYLINDERS #1, #3, #4, #5, AND #6 WOULD NOT FIRE. TOP PLUGS FROM THE RIGHT ENGINE CYLINDERS #5 AND #6 WOULD NOT FIRE. THE LEFT ENGINE FUEL CONTROL UNIT THROTTLE BODY WAS NOT CLAMPED AT THE TURBOCHARGER. THERE WERE 6 MALE PASSENGERS, THEIR BAGGAGE, AND 120 GALLONS OF FUEL ABOARD. DENSITY ALTITUDE WAS CALCULATED AT 2,600 FEET.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN AIRSPEED RESULTING IN AN INADVERTENT STALL. FACTORS WERE A PARTIAL LOSS OF POWER ON ALL ENGINES DUE TO WORN AND FOULED SPARK PLUGS AND INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE BY COMPANY MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL, AIRCRAFT WEIGHT BEYOND LIMITATIONS, AND HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW94FA282
- Event ID
- 20001206X02036
- Case number
- FTW94FA282
- 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: 4042024fec2b12671bce872526e9f971ede38a2998c53d187bf993afaafd82d1; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:09:00.947Z.