FTW95LA018 · Piper PA-23-250
Piper PA-23-250 · Accident: fire en route
From Gillespie County Airport (T82) to Pensacola International Airport (PNS)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW95LA018
- 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
Piper PA-23-250
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-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
- N821AC
- Operator
- Mitchell, Daniel L. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Gillespie County Airport (T82), TXTo Pensacola International Airport (PNS), Pensacola, FL
- 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 · climb to 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
- Fire
- 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
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, major repair, improper
- Pilot in command › Propeller feathering, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING THE EN ROUTE CLIMB, THE LEFT ENGINE MADE A LOUD NOISE AND LOST POWER. THE PILOT RETARDED THE THROTTLE AND TURNED AROUND TO RETURN TO THE AIRPORT. HE NOTICED THE ENGINE NACELLE WAS ON FIRE AND HE SHUT OFF THE FUEL SUPPLY. THE FIRE APPEARED TO EXTINGUISH. THE PILOT THEN RETARDED THE MIXTURE AND PROPELLER CONTROLS, WHICH IS NOT THE PROPER SEQUENCE OUTLINED IN THE AIRPLANE OWNER'S MANUAL. THE PROPELLER FAILED TO FEATHER. DESPITE FULL POWER ON THE RIGHT ENGINE AND MAINTAINING BEST SINGLE ENGINE RATE OF CLIMB SPEED, THE AIRPLANE DESCENDED 200 TO 250 FEET PER MINUTE. THE PILOT MADE A FORCED WHEELS DOWN LANDING IN AN OPEN FIELD. THE AIRPLANE STRUCK A TERRACE AND THE LANDING GEAR COLLAPSED. POST ACCIDENT ENGINE INSPECTION DISCLOSED A LOOSE FUEL INJECTOR SUPPLY LINE, AND HEAT DAMAGE AND A 1-1/2 INCH BROWN STAIN ON THE CLAMP THAT ATTACHES THE TAILPIPE TO THE EXHAUST SIDE OF THE TURBOCHARGER. ENGINE MAINTENANCE, REQUIRING THE REMOVAL AND REATTACHMENT OF FUEL LINES, HAD BEEN PERFORMED ON THE AIRPLANE JUST PRIOR TO THE FLIGHT.
Probable cause
IMPROPER MAINTENANCE RESULTING IN AN ENGINE FIRE, AND THE PILOT'S IMPROPER PROPELLER FEATHERING PROCEDURE, CAUSING THE PROPELLER NOT TO FEATHER AND THE AIRPLANE'S ENGINE OUT CAPABILITY TO BE EXCEEDED. A FACTOR WAS THE UNSUITABLE TERRAIN CONDITIONS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW95LA018
- Event ID
- 20001206X02443
- Case number
- FTW95LA018
- 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: 0e3c4b773309f009842acb15aaa5b52acfd936d1a3a9facfd02302c8002d1a96; retrieved 2026-09-23T00:31:52.951Z.