ATL91FA039 · Beech 35
Beech 35 · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb
From Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) to 17A · Lawrenceville, GA
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL91FA039
- 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
Beech 35
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 35
- 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
- N4589V
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Asheville Regional Airport (AVL)To 17A · Lawrenceville, GA
- 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
- 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 contamination; 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING THE INITIAL CLIMB AFTER TAKEOFF, THE ENG LOST POWER. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES AND CRASHED. WATER WAS FOUND IN A FUEL LINE (BTN THE FUEL SELECTOR VLV AND ELECTRIC FUEL PUMP), ELECTRIC BOOST PUMP MANIFOLD, AND CARBURETOR (CARB) INLET STRAINER; HOWEVER, THE FUEL SYSTEM WAS DAMAGED DURING IMPACT AND FIRE SUPPRESSANT CHEMICALS WERE SPRAYED ON THE WRECKAGE. A CHECK OF THE CARB SHOWED THAT IT WAS PROVIDING A LEAN MIXTURE AT LOW POWER SETTINGS AND A RICH MIXTURE AT HI POWER SETTINGS. A TEARDOWN OF THE CARB REVEALED A CRYSTALLINE SUBSTANCE ON THE CARB DIAPHRAGM, AN IMPROPER METERING JET, AND THAT 5 SHIMS WERE INSTALLED IN THE CARB REGULATOR DIAPHRAGM SPRING MECHANISM. THE BENDIX OVERHAUL MANUAL ALLOWED A MAXIMUM OF 2 SHIMS. DURING A POST-ACDNT CHECK, THE ENG OPERATED NORMALLY WITH THE ELECTRIC FUEL PUMP ON, BUT THE ENG STOPPED RUNNING WHEN THE ELECTRIC PUMP WAS TURNED OFF.
Probable cause
FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS, THE ENGINE LOST POWER.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL91FA039
- Event ID
- 20001212X16256
- Case number
- ATL91FA039
- 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: 3b370ffccb5e0c32cea1ecaded80f040ceb9f9577d08911f4cb090933d6da888; retrieved 2026-09-21T02:00:45.152Z.