MIA95LA231 · Piper PA-32-260
Piper PA-32-260 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Pompano Beach Airpark (PMP) to SGJ
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA95LA231
- 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-32-260
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-32
- 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
- N40971
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Pompano Beach Airpark (PMP), POMPANO, FLTo SGJ
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern turn to base
- 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 (non-mechanical)
- 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
- Fuel starvation; 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Fluid, fuel › Undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE FLIGHT DEPARTED WITH FULL FUEL TANKS AND THE PILOT STATED THAT ABOUT 1 HOUR AFTER TAKEOFF HE REPOSITIONED THE FUEL SELECTOR FROM THE RIGHT TANK TO THE LEFT TANK. THE FLIGHT CONTINUED, ENTERED THE TRAFFIC PATTERN TO LAND, AND THE PILOT EXTENDED THE DOWNWIND LEG DUE TO TRAFFIC. THE FLIGHT THEN TURNED LEFT BASE AND THE ENGINE FAILED TO RESPOND TO THROTTLE INPUT. THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH TREES DURING THE FORCED LANDING. THE AIRPLANE WAS RECOVERED AND BOTH FUEL TANKS WERE FOUND TO BE RUPTURED. THE FUEL SELECTOR WAS FOUND POSITIONED TO THE RIGHT FUEL TANK. THE FUEL LINE TO THE INLET OF THE CARBURETOR AND CARBURETOR BOWL WERE DRAINED AND CONTAINED ABOUT 1-2 OUNCES OF FUEL EACH. NO FUEL CONTAMINATION NOR OBSTRUCTIONS OF THE FUEL SUPPLY SYSTEM WERE NOTED. AN UNDAMAGED PROPELLER WAS INSTALLED AS WELL AS AN AUXILIARY FUEL TANK AND THE ENGINE WAS STARTED AND FOUND TO OPERATE NORMALLY.
Probable cause
FUEL STARVATION FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS RESULTING IN THE TOTAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS UNSUITABLE TERRAIN ENCOUNTERED DURING THE FORCED LANDING.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA95LA231
- Event ID
- 20001207X04552
- Case number
- MIA95LA231
- 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: 5e6733db194af7024522968b3ae4cd3a7f8068d757e1fbf136a4b9c0daa98e99; retrieved 2026-09-22T23:13:54.979Z.