MIA99LA003 · Piper PA-28R-200
Aeronautical Services Piper PA-28R-200 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From Punta Gorda Airport (PGD) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA99LA003
- 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-28R-200
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- 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
- N53EN
- Operator
- Aeronautical Services
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Punta Gorda Airport (PGD)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
- Partial 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
- 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
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, lubrication, not performed
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Punta Gorda, FL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
The engine oil was reportedly changed and replenished then the engine was started and operated for about 5-10 minutes. The pilot and General Manager reported verifying that the engine oil quantity was full before the flight departed. During the upwind leg of the second touch-and-go landing, the engine failed. While descending for a forced landing, the airplane collided with trees then the ground. Examination of the airplane by an FAA airworthiness inspector 2 days after the accident revealed no evidence of oil discharge during flight. Disassembly of the engine revealed that the Nos. 2 and 4 connecting rod bearings were failed, and the Nos. 1 and 3 connecting rod bearings were damaged. Minimal oil was found in the engine. No failure or malfunction was noted on the oil pump gears. The hour meter historically indicated a greater elapsed time than the cable driven tachometer during flights of varying lengths; however, during the accident flight, the tachometer elapsed time was greater than the hour meter time. The hour meter is electrically activated by a pressure switch which requires a minimum oil pressure of 3 psi. No malfunction of the hour meter and pressure switch were noted when tested post accident.
Probable cause
The failure of maintenance personnel to refill the engine oil following the draining of the oil and changing of the oil filter. Also, inadequate preflight of the airplane by the pilot for his failure to noted the absence of engine oil.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA99LA003
- Event ID
- 20001211X11302
- Case number
- MIA99LA003
- 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: de85e6f36414bfd65c80f7197a9daf092bf493733e32e2272488c7340c36a2f8; retrieved 2026-09-21T20:40:54.681Z.