Air Orlando Charter Beech 58 accident
Beech 58 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb
From Orlando Executive Airport (ORL) to Jacksonville International Airport (JAX)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA95FA154
- 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
- 2 · 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Beech 58
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 58
- 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
- N4403Q
- Operator
- Air Orlando Charter
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Orlando Executive Airport (ORL)To Jacksonville International Airport (JAX), Jacksonville, 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 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
- 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
- Climb › Not possible
- Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, not complied with
- Pilot in command › Gear retraction, not selected
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF ON RWY 7, THE PILOT REPORTED TO FAA CONTROLLERS HE HAD AN ENGINE FAILURE. THE CONTROLLERS OBSERVED THE LANDING GEAR RETRACT AT THIS TIME AND THEN IMMEDIATELY EXTEND. WITNESSES OBSERVED THE ACFT AT TREE TOP LEVEL MAKING A TURN TO THE NORTH WITH THE LANDING GEAR DOWN AND THE LEFT ENGINE SHUTDOWN AND THE PROPELLER FEATHERED. THE ACFT DESCENDED AND STRUCK THE TOP OF A TREE WITH THE WINGS LEVEL. THE ACFT THEN ROLLED TO THE RIGHT 90 DEGREES AND STRUCK THE GROUND. THE ACFT THEN CARTWHEELED AND SLID BACKWARDS INTO A TREE WHERE IT CAME TO REST. EXAMINATION OF THE LEFT ENGINE SHOWED THE ENGINE DRIVEN FUEL PUMP DRIVE COUPLING WAS ROUNDED OFF AND NOT TURNING THE PUMP. THE DRIVE COUPLING WAS TOO SHORT FOR THE MODEL FUEL PUMP DRIVE SHAFT. A 1993 FAA AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVE THAT CALLS FOR CHECKING FOR THE PROPER LENGTH DRIVE COUPLING HAD NOT BEEN COMPLIED WITH. THE FLIGHT MANUAL FOR THE ACFT STATES THAT THE FIRST ACTION TO BE PERFORMED BY THE PILOT AFTER ENGINE FAILURE IS TO RAISE THE LANDING GEAR. THE MANUAL ALSO STATES THAT SINGLE ENGINE PERFORMANCE IS PREDICATED ON THE LANDING GEAR BEING RETRACTED.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND TO INSURE THE LANDING GEAR WAS RETRACTED FOLLOWING LOSS OF POWER IN ONE ENGINE RESULTING IN THE AIRCRAFT BEING UNABLE TO CLIMB AND CLEAR TREES IN THE AIRCRAFT'S FLIGHT PATH.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA95FA154
- Event ID
- 20001207X03766
- Case number
- MIA95FA154
- 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: 111b2f177ce7e59979a125021b27f2859fa35238b09a655c59bffea808396604; retrieved 2026-09-18T13:42:30.055Z.