MIA96LA071 · Cessna 310R
Cessna 310R · Accident: loss of engine power on approach
From MMEH · NORTH ELEUTRIA to Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA96LA071
- 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
Cessna 310R
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 310
- 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
- N5079J
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From MMEH · NORTH ELEUTRIATo Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR)
- 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 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
- Loss of engine power
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, not followed
- Pilot in command › Propeller feathering, not performed
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Fort Pierce, FL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
The flight was on left base for landing when the left engine lost power. The pilot believed that the right engine would not produce full power. He attempted to land on a road, but the airplane struck a tree and subsequently burned. According to the pilot, when he departed the Bahamas, there was '20 gallons in each main [tank], 30 [gallons] in each auxiliary tank, 20 [gallons] in left wing locker...[the] duration of the flight 1+40, fuel consumption 31 gallons per hour,' or an approximate burn of 52 gallons of fuel. While cruising at 6500 feet, he 'switched' to the auxiliary tanks, 'drained the left wing locker tank' and switched back to the main tanks. Examination of the wreckage revealed the left engine propeller had not been feathered. Also, the landing gear was found extended, and the left engine cowling was intact. The right engine and the right side of the airplane had been consumed by fire damage, but the left engine did not display any fire damage. Both fuel selectors were found positioned to the main fuel tanks. The left engine was placed on a test stand, and a test run was conducted, but no discrepancies were found.
Probable cause
failure of the pilot to follow emergency procedure(s) and/or feather the respective propeller after loss of power in the left engine for an undetermined reason. The undetermined loss of power (left engine) was a related factor.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA96LA071
- Event ID
- 20001208X05178
- Case number
- MIA96LA071
- 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: cc4f17570a750f00424e392a5d6c72dc0029d34e69aac087fa75f252efda8455; retrieved 2026-09-21T12:55:03.924Z.