ATL98FA076 · Beech BE-45-T-34B BE-45-T-34
Beech BE-45-T-34B BE-45-T-34 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during initial climb
From Maxwell Air Force Base (MXF) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL98FA076
- 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 BE-45-T-34B BE-45-T-34
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft BE-45
- 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
- N9280Z
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Maxwell Air Force Base (MXF)To not recorded
- 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
- Airframe, component or system failure
- 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
- Lubricating system, oil seal › Incorrect
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, replacement, inaccurate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
At 1654, Caveat 7 was cleared for takeoff from runway 15 at Maxwell AFB. At 1657, the pilot reported he had oil on his windshield. The tower controller watched as the airplane entered a steep left turn. The airplane collided with the ground about 250 feet northeast of a Burger King Restaurant, and burst into flames. The passenger stated after takeoff, at 500 feet, the passenger and pilot both noticed oil on the windscreen. After the pilot turned downwind for the forced landing, the engine began to sputter. At this point, the windscreen was completely covered with oil. The passenger stated the airplane then nosed down, banked 45 degrees to the left, and they returned to level flight before impacting the parking lot. According to Aero Club maintenance personnel, the engine was scheduled for removal the following day. The engines' total time was at TBO (time between overhaul). After the accident, It was noted, during the engine examination, that the crankshaft rubber seal assembly (nose seal) was approximately one inch forward of its normally installed position. It was also noted the nose seal was not the correct part as described in the engine parts manual.
Probable cause
The installation of an incorrect engine nose seal that subsequently dislodged from the normally installed position, and resulted in the loss of engine power. A factor was the loss of engine oil.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL98FA076
- Event ID
- 20001211X09983
- Case number
- ATL98FA076
- 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: dda75adcf5d3d4f779adbb3d4c44e0912057c013b7394d5d2725e844c0fe0a87; retrieved 2026-09-21T11:32:54.247Z.