CHI97LA173 · Beech V35B
Beech V35B · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From Lee C Fine Memorial Airport (AIZ) to Kirksville Regional Airport (IRK)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI97LA173
- 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 V35B
- 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
- N25643
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Lee C Fine Memorial Airport (AIZ), MOTo Kirksville Regional Airport (IRK), Kirksville, MO
- 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
- 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 (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
- 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 › Starvation
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that during his preflight he inspected the fuel cap and visually checked that there was fuel in the left tank. The pilot stated, 'Upon pushing on the wing, I determined that I could both hear and see fuel in the tank. It was low, but not wanting to add more fuel until we tested the fuel cap, I elected to leave it as was.' The pilot reported that during engine run up he, 'placed the [fuel selector] lever on the right tank for takeoff, knowing the left tank has the least amount of fuel on board.' The pilot reported that at approximately 800 feet he, 'felt a hesitation and then the engine totally failed.' The pilot stated that he then began to initiate a forced landing into a nearby corn field. Post crash investigation of the airplane showed that there were 31 gallons of fuel in the right tank and zero gallons of fuel in the left tank. It was also confirmed that there was no indication of a post crash fuel leak or spill. Further investigation of the fuel injection system showed that the spider valve was void of fuel. Bench testing of the engine confirmed that the engine would start-up and run if supplied with fuel. It was also found that the Beech V35B was placarded that there should be 13 gallons of fuel in both tanks before flight is attempted.
Probable cause
was fuel starvation for undetermined reasons. A factor was the failure of the pilot to refuel the aircraft.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI97LA173
- Event ID
- 20001208X08086
- Case number
- CHI97LA173
- 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: 011c78eb514d1b8fdbb9cccf25682a6dc3e43e8d1f7c86d51f237060e997728f; retrieved 2026-09-21T21:25:04.438Z.