MIA93LA151 · Mooney M20J
Mooney M20J · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Paul Pittman Memorial Airport (T36) to 50J · Moncks Corner, SC
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA93LA151
- 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
Mooney M20J
- Aircraft type
- Mooney M20
- 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
- N3896H
- Operator
- Capps, William R. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Paul Pittman Memorial Airport (T36), Tylertown, MSTo 50J · Moncks Corner, SC
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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, installation, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE DAY BEFORE THE ACCIDENT FLIGHT, A MECHANIC CHANGED THE ENGINE OIL BUT DID NOT RUN THE ENGINE AFTER TO CHECK FOR OIL LEAKS. THE PILOT STATED THAT THE OIL QUANTITY WAS FULL BEFORE DEPARTURE. DURING CRUISE FLIGHT, THE ENGINE SEIZED. THE PILOT EXECUTED A FORCED LANDING IN A FIELD GEAR-UP. THE ENGINE WAS REMOVED AND SENT TO THE MANUFACTURER FOR EXAMINATION. EXAMINATION OF THE ENGINE REVEALED THAT A SECTION OF GASKET BETWEEN THE ACCESSORY CASE AND THE OIL FILTER ADAPTER PLATE WAS MISSING. ALSO, THE OIL FILTER ADAPTER PLATE STUD WHICH SECURES THE PLATE TO THE ACCESSORY CASE WAS INCORRECT. AS A RESULT, THE ADAPTER PLATE WAS LOOSE. THE ENGINE QUIT DUE TO OIL STARVATION WHICH WAS CAUSED BY THE OIL EXITING THE ENGINE PAST THE GASKET.
Probable cause
INSTALLATION OF AN INCORRECT OIL FILTER ADAPTER PLATE STUD WHICH SECURES THE PLATE TO THE ACCESSORY CASE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA93LA151
- Event ID
- 20001211X12982
- Case number
- MIA93LA151
- 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: 0b97b0e969c74f55f26d33fbce054dc2c5f984bc477b49e6fbf77db036cf5b29; retrieved 2026-09-21T22:53:02.910Z.