FTW95LA340 · Beech J35
Beech J35 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during takeoff
From Centennial Airport (APA) to Lake County Airport (LXV)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW95LA340
- 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 J35
- 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
- N8344D
- Operator
- Candice A. Stewart · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Centennial Airport (APA)To Lake County Airport (LXV), Leadville, CO
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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 (non-mechanical)
- 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
- Flightcrew › Fuel boost pump selector position, inadvertent activation
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING TAKEOFF ON A MOUNTAIN FLYING INSTRUCTIONAL FLIGHT, THE AIRCRAFT (WITH A FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR & 2 PILOTS ABOARD) LIFTED OFF ABOUT HALFWAY DOWN THE 4903' RUNWAY. HOWEVER, AFTER LIFT-OFF, IT FAILED TO CLIMB SUFFICIENTLY TO CLEAR THE PERIMETER FENCE, WHICH WAS ON HIGHER TERRAIN ABOUT 1560' FROM THE RUNWAY. THE FENCE WAS AT AN ELEVATION OF ABOUT 60' ABOVE THE END OF THE RUNWAY. THE AIRPLANE CAME TO REST IN A FIELD ABOUT 140' FROM THE FENCE. NO AIRCRAFT OR SYSTEM FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION WAS FOUND. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THAT THE FUEL BOOST PUMP WAS ON DURING TAKEOFF (ALTHOUGH THE ENGINE DRIVEN PUMP WAS OPERATING NORMALLY). DURING A TEST RUN, THE ENGINE OPERATED NORMALLY WITH THE BOOST PUMP OFF. WITH THE BOOST PUMP AT LOW BOOST, THERE WAS A 500 TO 700 RPM LOSS OF RPM; AT HIGH BOOST, THE ENGINE QUIT RUNNING. THE LOCATION AND DESIGN OF THE BOOST PUMP SWITCH WAS NON-STANDARD HAVING BEEN MOVED DURING AN STC AIRCRAFT ALTERATION. THE SWITCH WAS LOCATED NEXT TO THE THROTTLE, WHERE IT COULD BE INADVERTENTLY OPERATED, AND IT HAD NO SAFEGUARD TO PREVENT SUCH OPERATION. INVESTIGATION ALSO REVEALED THAT THERE WERE NO LEANING PROCEDURES INCORPORATED IN THE PILOT MANUAL. THE INSTRUCTOR (CFI) HAD BRIEFED THE PILOTS TO LEAN THE ENGINE BY USING THE RPM. THE MANUFACTURER REPORTED THAT THE ENGINE COULD NOT BE PROPERLY LEANED BY USING THE RPM GAUGE, SINCE IT WAS EQUIPPED WITH A CONSTANT SPEED PROPELLER.
Probable cause
INADVERTENT ACTIVATION OF THE FUEL BOOST PUMP BY EITHER THE PILOT (WHO WAS BEING INSTRUCTED) OR BY THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR (CFI). FACTORS RELATING TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE BRIEFING OF IMPROPER LEANING PROCEDURES BY THE CFI, LOCATION OF THE BOOST PUMP SWITCH NEXT TO THE THROTTLE WITHOUT A SAFEGUARD TO PREVENT ITS INADVERTENT OPERATION, AND THE CFI'S LACK OF FAMILIARITY WITH THIS AIRPLANE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW95LA340
- Event ID
- 20001207X04241
- Case number
- FTW95LA340
- 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: 4933c530495510fafb9f4cf4507006abd51e7eec42205200e8e808500a90b56d; retrieved 2026-09-22T23:26:06.723Z.