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FTW92LA076 · Avions Fairey T-66

29 Feb 1992 · Mineral Wells, TX, United States

Avions Fairey T-66 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route

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Event

NTSB case
FTW92LA076
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

Avions Fairey T-66

Aircraft type
Avions Fairey T-66
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
N621X
Operator
Kessler, David K. · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo 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
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)
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

  • Fluid, fuel › Starvation
  • Fuel system, filter › Contamination

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

NTSB narrative

THE AIRPLANE WAS ON ITS FIRST FLIGHT AFTER BEING STORED FOR SEVERAL YEARS. WHILE PROCEEDING TOWARD THE AIRPORT AFTER A LOCAL AREA FLIGHT, A TOTAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER OCCURRED. THE AIRPLANE WAS FORCED TO LAND AT A PRACTICE FOOTBALL FIELD APPROXIMATELY THREE MILES FROM THE AIRPORT. DURING THE LANDING ROLL ON SOFT GROUND THE LANDING GEAR DUG IN, THE NOSE GEAR COLLAPSED, AND THE AIRPLANE NOSED OVER ONTO ITS BACK. EXAMINATION OF THE ENGINE'S FUEL SYSTEM REVEALED A BLOCKED FUEL FILTER. THE MATERIAL IN THE FUEL FILTER WAS DETERMINED TO BE ORGANIC. THE NEW AIRPLANE OWNER REPORTED THAT AN UNKNOWN PRESERVATIVE HAD BEEN USED IN THE AIRPLANE DURING THE STORAGE PERIOD.

Probable cause

FUEL STARVATION DUE TO A CONTAMINATED FUEL FILTER. A FACTOR WAS THE SOFT TERRAIN.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW92LA076
Event ID
20001211X14117
Case number
FTW92LA076
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: 6faaf6a4461b92034b806aa8725380dd8f01aff61b57ed3941dab4e5af7a7760; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:20:21.268Z.