MIA93FA015 · Douglas DC-7CF
Douglas DC-7CF · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb
From Miami International Airport (MIA) to Las Américas International Airport (MDSD)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA93FA015
- 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
Douglas DC-7CF
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-7
- 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
- HI619
- Operator
- Castillo, Claudio · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Miami International Airport (MIA), Miami, FLTo Las Américas International Airport (MDSD), Santo Domingo
- 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
- Loss of engine power
- 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
- Engine assembly › Overtemperature
- Pilot in command › Aircraft weight and balance, exceeded
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Fort Lauderdale, FL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE CREW REPORTED OVER RADIO THAT THE #4 ENGINE FAILED SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, AND THEY WERE ATTEMPTING TO DUMP FUEL WHEN THE #2 ENGINE OVERHEATED. THEY THEN INTENTIONALLY DITCHED THE AIRPLANE. THE WRECKAGE WAS RECOVERED ABOUT 2 WEEKS AFTERWARD, AND THE AIRPLANE WAS ABOUT 50% CORRODED AWAY. DUE TO MASSIVE SALT WATER CORROSION, NO PREIMPACT FAILURE/MALFUNCTION OF THE #4 ENGINE COULD BE IDENTIFIED. NO RECORD OF AIRPLANE/OPERATOR BEING GRANTED CFR PART 129 CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY. NO SUBSTANTIATION OF THE TIMES IN SERVICE FOR THE AIRPLANE, ENGINES, PROPELLERS, AND TIME CHANGE COMPONENTS OR AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVES COULD BE DETERMINED.
Probable cause
FAILURE OF THE #4 ENGINE FOR AN UNDETERMINED REASONS(S), AND THE INABILITY OF THE AIRPLANE TO REMAIN AIRBORNE DUE TO THE OVERGROSS WEIGHT TAKEOFF PERFORMED BY THE PILOT. FACTORS WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE QUESTIONABLE AIRWORTHINESS OF THE AIRPLANE AND ENGINES DUE TO THE LACK OF RECORDS, AND THE FAILURE OF THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION TO ADEQUATELY SURVEIL THE OPERATOR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA93FA015
- Event ID
- 20001211X16081
- Case number
- MIA93FA015
- 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: d8d5a26c5ee89f728f4f915a0b3cf189dad002fa6e8e1d822a53024250483552; retrieved 2026-09-23T02:30:00.227Z.