MIA93LA084 · Beech B23
908 Flying Club Beech B23 · Accident: loss of engine power en route
From Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR) to Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (OPF)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA93LA084
- 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 B23
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 23
- 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
- N6998Q
- Operator
- 908 Flying Club
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR), Fort Pierce, FLTo Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (OPF), OPA LOCKA, 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 · 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
- 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
- Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT WAS CONDUCTING A NIGHT CROSS-COUNTRY FLIGHT AT 2,000 FEET AGL. THE PILOT SWITCHED THE FUEL TANKS, AND A SHORT TIME LATER EXPERIENCED A SUDDEN DROP IN ENGINE RPM. THE PILOT REPORTED THE EMERGENCY TO PALM BEACH TOWER, AND RECEIVED VECTORS TO THE NEAREST AIRPORT. THE PILOT VERIFIED THE POSITION OF THE MAGNETOS, TURNED THE FUEL PUMP ON, MOVED THE MIXTURE TO FULL RICH, AND SWITCHED THE FUEL TANKS. A PILOT-RATED PASSENGER LOCATED IN A REAR PASSENGER SEAT SHOUTED THE EMERGENCY PROCEDURES TO THE PILOT. THE PILOT SWITCHED THE FUEL TANKS AGAIN, AND CONDUCTED A FORCED LANDING INTO A RESIDENTIAL AREA. EXAMINATION OF THE AIRPLANE WRECKAGE BY THE FAA, AND THE PALM BEACH SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT REVEALED THE FUEL SELECTOR HANDLE WAS FOUND IN THE 12 O'CLOCK POSITION IN BETWEEN THE LEFT AND RIGHT MAIN TANK POSITION.
Probable cause
THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND'S IMPROPER MOVEMENT OF THE FUEL SELECTOR VALVE RESULTING IN FUEL STARVATION, FORCED LANDING, AND AN IN-FLIGHT COLLISION WITH TERRAIN.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA93LA084
- Event ID
- 20001211X12023
- Case number
- MIA93LA084
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1993-03-10.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 47fe77885f0c5a7ef8c21d9ab38bb7a31511956202d1ca4e49f4fc46f4a15301; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:01:12.674Z.