FTW92FA169 · Rockwell 690B
Aircraft Sales International Rockwell 690B · Accident: loss of control in flight en route
From University of Oklahoma Westheimer Airport (OUN) to Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW92FA169
- 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
- 1 · 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
Rockwell 690B
- Aircraft type
- Rockwell 690
- 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
- N690JC
- Operator
- Aircraft Sales International
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From University of Oklahoma Westheimer Airport (OUN), Norman, OKTo Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL), FT. LAUDERDALE, 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 · climb to 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 control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Design stress limits of aircraft › Exceeded
- Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not maintained
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
AS THE AIRPLANE WAS DEVIATING AROUND LOW INTENSITY WEATHER RETURNS, AND PASSING THROUGH 20,500 FT DURING CLIMB OUT, IT DEPARTED CONTROLLED FLIGHT AND ENTERED A RIGHT SPIRAL. DESCENT RATES EXCEEDED 16,600 FPM DURING THE DESCENT FROM 18,300 FT TO 3,900 FT AND THEN SLOWED. WITNESSES STATED THEY SAW THE AIRPLANE DESCEND FROM THE CLOUDS IN A RIGHT FLAP SPIN. THE EMPENNAGE HAD SEPARATED FROM THE AIRPLANE IN PIECES. PIECES OF THE WRECKAGE WERE FOUND UP TO 1.5 MI FROM THE PRIMARY IMPACT POINT. BOTH WINGS REMAINED ATTACHED. THE RIGHT ENGINE WAS FLAMED OUT, AND THE PROP WAS FEATHERED AT IMPACT. NO MECHANICAL REASON FOR THE FLAMEOUT COULD BE DETERMINED. AT NO TIME DID THE PILOT INDICATE HE WAS HAVING DIFFICULTIES. THE NTSB WEATHER STUDY INDICATED THAT MODERATE TURBULENCE WAS PRESENT IN THE AREA. THE PILOT'S TOXICOLOGY TESTS FOUND 0.151 UG/ML OF CHLORPHENIRAMINE IN THE BLOOD; NORMAL THERAPEUTIC CONCENTRATION IS 0.01 TO 0.04. EFFECTS OF OVERDOSAGE INCLUDE SEDATION, DIMINISHED MENTAL ALERTNESS, AND CARDIOVASCULAR COLLAPSE TO STIMULATION.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE WHICH RESULTED IN AN INADVERTENT SPIRAL AND SUBSEQUENT RAPID DESCENT. THE DESIGN STRESS LIMITS OF THE AIRFRAME WERE EXCEEDED RESULTING IN AN OVERLOAD FAILURE OF THE EMPENNAGE. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: TURBULENCE AND THE PILOT'S PHYSICAL IMPAIRMENT DUE TO DRUGS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW92FA169
- Event ID
- 20001211X14859
- Case number
- FTW92FA169
- 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: 792c6edfb7d1a19f2ed99fc7838d7b288421994bc870f52149e95cffb7efeaca; retrieved 2026-09-21T01:05:12.497Z.