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FTW95LA044 · Pezetel 106A

12 Nov 1994 · GULF OF MEXICO

Pezetel 106A · Accident: in flight encounter with weather en route

From Jimmy Carter Regional Airport (ACJ) to Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (OPF)

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Event

NTSB case
FTW95LA044
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
1 · 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

Pezetel 106A

Aircraft type
Pezetel 106
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
YV618
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Jimmy Carter Regional Airport (ACJ), Americus, GATo Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (OPF), OPA LOCKA, 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 · 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
In flight encounter with weather
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 › Became lost/disoriented, inadvertent
  • Reason for occurrence undetermined

Not plotted · Location withheld: coordinates are missing, conflicting, invalid, or have no accepted acquisition method. No substitute location has been invented.

NTSB narrative

THE POLISH BUILT AGRICULTURAL AIRPLANE WAS EQUIPPED WITH A FERRY KIT THAT EXTENDED ITS FUEL RANGE TO 10 HOURS. IT WAS BEING TRANSPORTED TO CARACAS, VENEZUELA. THE PILOT DEPARTED AMERICUS, GEORGIA AT ABOUT 1100 CST WITHOUT FILING A FLIGHT PLAN. THERE WAS NO RECORD THAT HE HAD OBTAINED A WEATHER BRIEFING. THE FIRST LEG OF A FERRY FLIGHT WAS PLANNED TO OPA LOCKA, FLORIDA FOR AN OVERNIGHT STOP. HOWEVER, AT DUSK, THE AIRPLANE WAS SEEN OFF COURSE, OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO, ABOUT 350 MILES SOUTH OF MOBILE, ALABAMA. AT THAT LOCATION, PERSONNEL OF A LIBERIAN FREIGHTER OBSERVED THE AIRPLANE CIRCLING THE SHIP FOR APPROXIMATELY 10 MINUTES WITH AN INTERMITTENT ROUGH RUNNING ENGINE. SUBSEQUENTLY, IT WAS DITCHED IN 8 TO 10 FOOT SEAS. PERSONNEL OF THE VESSEL WERE NOT ABLE TO RESCUE THE PILOT. A TROPICAL STORM WITH HIGH WINDS WAS CENTERED OVER KEY WEST, FL. THE AIRPLANE WAS NOT EQUIPPED WITH ANY COMMUNICATION OR NAVIGATION RADIOS. THE PILOT HAD NO PERSONAL FLOATATION EQUIPMENT. HIS BODY AND SOME OF THE WRECKAGE WERE RECOVERED THE NEXT DAY BY COAST GUARD PERSONNEL.

Probable cause

THE PILOT BECAME LOST OR DISORIENTED, ALLOWING THE AIRPLANE TO GET OFF-COURSE/OVER WATER; AND LOSS OF ENGINE POWER FOR AN UNDETERMINED REASON. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: CLOUDS AND HIGH WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PREVAILING TROPICAL STORM, THE PILOT'S IMPROPER EVALUATION OF THE WEATHER CONDITION, THE LACK OF RADIO OR NAVIGATION EQUIPMENT, AND THE POOR LIGHT CONDITIONS (DUSK) AND LARGE WAVES/SWELLS IN THE FORCED LANDING (DITCHING) AREA.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW95LA044
Event ID
20001206X02597
Case number
FTW95LA044
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 1994-11-13.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: db7a27cdc3a05fcc223cda7c32d3a284a3865e526b8d4cad65b6dcfa3d0af808; retrieved 2026-09-20T23:56:48.954Z.