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ANC93LA127 · Beech D18S

25 Jul 1993 · Kodiak, AK, United States

Beech D18S · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during initial climb

From Kodiak Airport (ADQ) to West Beaver Airport (09AK)

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Event

NTSB case
ANC93LA127
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 D18S

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 18
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
N2053D
Operator
Louvring, Frederick S. · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Kodiak Airport (ADQ)To West Beaver Airport (09AK), LARSEN BAY, AK
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
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT SAID THAT ABOUT 10 MINUTES AFTER TAKEOFF, AND WHILE CRUISING AT ABOUT 800 FEET AGL, THE RIGHT ENGINE OIL PRESSURE BEGAN DECREASING AND THE TEMPERATURE INCREASING. ABOUT 2 MINUTES LATER THE RIGHT ENGINE STARTED RUNNING ROUGH AND BACKFIRING, SO HE SHUT IT DOWN. MEANWHILE HE MISTAKENLY TURNED INTO A SMALL BAY INSTEAD OF TOWARD HIS DEPARTURE AIRPORT. BECAUSE OF THE HIGH TERRAIN AND HOUSES ON HIS LEFT HE ATTEMPTED A SLOW TURN TO THE RIGHT. WHEN THE AIRPLANE GOT INTO A LOW AIRSPEED BUFFET, AND THE PILOT THOUGHT IT WAS ABOUT TO GO INVERTED, HE CUT POWER ON THE LEFT ENGINE, LEVELED THE WINGS, AND DITCHED IN THE SHALLOW WATER NEAR THE SHORELINE. INVESTIGATION FOUND THAT DURING THE AFTER TAKEOFF GEAR RETRACTION THE RIGHT MAIN LANDING GEAR RETRACTION CHAIN BROKE AND PUNCTURED THE RIGHT ENGINE'S OIL TANK, WHICH ALLOWED ALL THE OIL TO DRAIN OUT. NO MECHANICAL PROBLEMS WERE FOUND WITH EITHER OF THE TWO ENGINES.

Probable cause

THE PILOT'S IMPROPER IN FLIGHT PLANNING/DECISION. A FACTOR WAS THE PARTIAL LOSS OF POWER ON ONE ENGINE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ANC93LA127
Event ID
20001211X12754
Case number
ANC93LA127
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: f4ed0d846346dfed385c29b85051f639e62a9af099ad123b1d25948e35828ff4; retrieved 2026-09-21T22:51:51.301Z.