NYC95LA023 · Beech 35-C33
Beech 35-C33 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Danbury Municipal Airport (DXR) to Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (PVD)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC95LA023
- 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 35-C33
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 35
- 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
- N5869S
- Operator
- Paul L. Millman · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Danbury Municipal Airport (DXR), Danbury, CTTo Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (PVD), Providence, RI
- 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 · descent
- 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 (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
- Tree(s)
- 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
- Dual student › Emergency procedure, improper
- Fuel system, pump › Failure, total
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Supervision, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Coventry, RI, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE ENGINE LOST POWER WHEN THE INSTRUMENT STUDENT (PRIVATE) PILOT ATTEMPTED TO LEVEL THE AIRPLANE AT 3000 FEET MSL AFTER A DESCENT. THE FLT INSTRUCTOR TOOK CONTROL AND SET UP FOR A FORCED LANDING WHILE THE STUDENT PILOT ATTEMPTED TO RESTART THE ENGINE. THE AIRPLANE CAME TO REST IN TREES APPROX 1/4 OF A MILE FROM A PRIVATE ARPT. THE STUDENT HAD 250 HOURS OF TOTAL FLIGHT TIME, INCLUDING 77 HOURS IN TYPE. THE AIRPLANE WAS FOUND WITH THE ELECTRIC FUEL BOOST PUMP SWITCHED OFF AND THE STUDENT DID NOT MENTION IT WHEN INTERVIEWED ABOUT HIS EMERGENCY PROCEDURES. EXAMINATION OF THE AIRPLANE REVEALED THE ENGINE WOULD RUN WITH THE ELECTRIC FUEL BOOST PUMP ON, BUT WOULD NOT RUN USING THE ENGINE DRIVEN FUEL PUMP ONLY. THE ENGINE DRIVEN FUEL PUMP DRIVE SHAFT HAD FAILED AND THE BEARINGS WERE FROZEN. SMALL PARTICLES OF ALUMINUM WERE FOUND IN THE BEARINGS. THE PUMP HAD BEEN REMOVED FROM THE AIRPLANE, SHIPPED TO AN OVERHAUL FACILITY, AND RETURNED FOR INSTALLATION 52.3 HOURS PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT. THE SOURCE OF THE PARTICLES WAS NOT DETERMINED.
Probable cause
improper emergency procedures by the pilot and inadequate supervision by the flight instructor which resulted in their failure to restart the engine after it lost power due to a failed engine driven fuel pump.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC95LA023
- Event ID
- 20001206X02647
- Case number
- NYC95LA023
- 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: 8f7dca2af2bcbd75ab27673e0afe4bd7f1003946c50f802723a529beb23cb6d7; retrieved 2026-09-23T00:27:37.968Z.