FTW92LA164 · Cessna 320D
Cessna 320D · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ) to Q19 · Aztec, NM
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW92LA164
- 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
Cessna 320D
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 320
- 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
- N3307Q
- Operator
- Dabbs, Thurman C. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ), Albuquerque, NMTo Q19 · Aztec, NM
- 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 · descent
- 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 (mechanical 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 › Gear retraction, not possible
- Pilot in command › Propeller feathering, not possible
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A COMMERCIAL PILOT WAS FERRYING A LIGHT TWIN AIRPLANE WITH THE LANDING GEAR EXTENDED. AS THE PILOT STARTED HIS DESCENT TO LAND, THE NUMBER SIX CONNECTING ROD ON THE RIGHT ENGINE FAILED. THE PILOT WAS NOT ABLE TO FEATHER THE PROPELLER ON THE RIGHT ENGINE. ALTITUDE COULD NOT BE MAINTAINED WITH A WINDMILLING PROPELLER AND THE GEAR EXTENDED. A FORCED LANDING WAS MADE TO A HEAVILY TRAVELLED HIGHWAY. DAMAGE TO THE AIRPLANE OCCURRED WHEN THE PILOT ELECTED TO VEER OFF THE HIGHWAY TO AVOID COLLIDING WITH VEHICULAR TRAFFIC. DENSITY ALTITUDE WAS 10,900 FEET. THE PROPELLER FAILURE TO FEATHER WAS CAUSED BY THE PROPELLER GOVERNOR BEING OUT OF ADJUSTMENT.
Probable cause
FAILURE OF THE RIGHT PROPELLER TO FEATHER AND INOPERATIVE GEAR RETRACTION SYSTEM. FACTORS WERE THE HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE AND THE POWER LOSS DUE TO CONNECTING ROD FAILURE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW92LA164
- Event ID
- 20001211X14875
- Case number
- FTW92LA164
- 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: 55f7020094520338248ac72420729f740a6cb93dec7ef0808da9a5fb1ce41d90; retrieved 2026-09-23T03:02:15.992Z.