MIA98LA117 · Beech F33A
Beech F33A · Accident: loss of engine power en route
From Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR) to North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport (F45)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA98LA117
- 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 F33A
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 33
- 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
- DECTB
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR)To North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport (F45), Palm Beach, 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 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
- En route · climb to cruise
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Fuel system, fuel control › Leak
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The flight had departed runway 14, and had reached an altitude of about 200 feet, when the pilot reported a loss of engine power. The pilot elected to make a forced landing straight ahead into trees. After impact, the pilot closed off the fuel valve. Examination of the wreckage after the accident revealed that the fuel tanks had fuel. The pilot said the fuel selector was on the left tank when the loss of power occurred. Observation of the engine at the crash site did not reveal any obvious discrepancies. The engine was removed from the airframe and examined at the NTSB's request, and under the supervision of the FAA, on June 24, 1998. The engine examination revealed that the fuel control system exhibited fluid leakage at the fuel pump and throttle shaft. Detailed examination of the fuel pump showed that the pump leaked fluid at the rear high speed adjusting needle at the seal to the pump body. There was no evidence of impact damage observed on the fuel pump. In addition, the throttle/metering unit leaked fluid at the throttle shaft into the metering unit. The leak at the throttle shaft was severe enough that no flow test was possible. The throttle arm displayed impact damage. The throttle shaft was removed from the unit, and the 'O' ring seal was found flat from wear. The 'O' ring was replaced and the leakage stopped. The unit was then flow tested to manufacturer's standards. No other discrepancies were found during the engine examination
Probable cause
a loss of engine power due to fuel leakage at the fuel control, resulting in a forced landing, and subsequent impact with trees.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA98LA117
- Event ID
- 20001211X09905
- Case number
- MIA98LA117
- 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: c50d9380c7fa9f6afa36894fa7a82c86685a373b23119501549c523eb545d8da; retrieved 2026-09-22T17:54:53.363Z.