FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

MIA93LA022 · MASON, Jack A. VELOCITY

25 Nov 1992 · Crystal River, FL, United States

MASON, Jack A. VELOCITY · Accident: airframe, component or system failure en route

From Bowman Field (LOU) to Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ)

Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
MIA93LA022
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

MASON, Jack A. VELOCITY

Aircraft type
Mason Jack VELOCITY
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
N157JM
Operator
Black, Charles K. · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Bowman Field (LOU), Louisville, KYTo Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ), Sarasota, 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 · 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
Airframe, component or system failure
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
Tree(s)
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 › Unsuitable terrain or takeoff/landing/taxi area, encountered
  • Unknown › Maintenance, improper

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Crystal River, FL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

DURING CRUISE FLT, APRX 17 INCHES OF ONE PROP BLADE SEPARATED. DURING THE EMERGENCY DESCENT FOR A FORCED LANDING, THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES THEN THE WATER. EXAM OF THE PROP REVEALED THAT THE FWD HUB WHICH CONTACTS THE FWD MOUNTING FLANGE WAS BURNED. A PROP SPINNER WAS NOT INSTALLED. IT HAD BEEN REMOVED BEFORE THE PLT PURCHASED THE ACFT APRX 9 MONTHS EARLIER. THE PROP SPINNER BACKING PLATE WHICH IS .125 INCH THICK ATTACHES BETWEEN THE FWD MOUNTING FLANGE AND THE FWD HUB OF THE PROP. THE CORRECT PROCEDURE TO DETERMINE IF THE ATTACH BOLTS ARE THE CORRECT LENGTH IS TO INSTALL THEM THROUGH THE AFT MOUNTING FLANGE & THE PROPELLER BACKING PLATE (IF INSTALLED), THEN SCREW THEM INTO THE FWD MOUNTING FLANGE UNTIL THE BOLTS BOTTOM OUT. THE WIDTH BETWEEN THE TWO FLANGES (IF A PROP SPINNER IS NOT INSTALLED) SHOULD BE MEASURED, THEN THE WIDTH OF THE PROP HUB SHOULD BE MEASURED. THE WIDTH OF THE PROP HUB SHOULD BE GREATER THAN THE WIDTH BETWEEN THE FLANGES TO ALLOW FOR COMPRESSION OF THE HUB WHEN THE BOLTS ARE PROPERLY TORQUED.

Probable cause

FAILURE OF AN UNKNOWN INDIVIDUAL TO DETERMINE THAT THE PROPELLER WAS PROPERLY SECURED AFTER REMOVAL OF THE PROPELLER SPINNER, RESULTING IN SEPARATION OF ONE OF THE PROPELLER BLADES DURING CRUISE FLIGHT. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS UNSUITABLE TERRAIN ENCOUNTERED DURING THE FORCED LANDING.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA93LA022
Event ID
20001211X16089
Case number
MIA93LA022
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: e39cc72c663e36fec002788a65fb5f3c938c51ca3adbe9d5ae976d04889c81ef; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:04:59.887Z.