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CHI91LA086 · Beech 200

1 Feb 1991 · Indianapolis, IN, United States

Beech 200 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure en route

From Bradley International Airport (BDL) to Indianapolis International Airport (IND)

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Event

NTSB case
CHI91LA086
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

Beech 200

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 200
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
N5584M
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Bradley International Airport (BDL), Windsor Locks, CTTo Indianapolis International Airport (IND)
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
Airframe, component or system 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

  • Cooling system, cowling › Separation
  • Manufacturer › Acft/equip, inadequate airframe

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE TWIN-ENGINED TURBO-PROP AIRPLANE WAS DESCENDING FROM 20,000 FEET MSL TO 7,000 FEET MSL WHEN THE LEFT ENGINE AFT, UPPER ACCESSORY CASE COWL SEPARATED FROM ITS MOUNT. THE COWL ASSEMLBY STRUCK THE LEFT SIDE OF THE FUSELAGE, THE VERTICAL STABILIZER, AND THE HORIZONTAL STABILIZER. THE FUSELAGE STRIKE CAUSED A RAPID DECOMPRESSION. THE AIRPLANE WAS LANDED WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT.

Probable cause

SEPARATION OF THE AFT, UPPER, ACCESSORY CASE COWL ASSEMBLY FROM THE AIRPLANE, AND INADEQUATE AIRFRAME EQUIPMENT PROVIDED BY THE MANUFACTURER.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI91LA086
Event ID
20001212X16421
Case number
CHI91LA086
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: a4fc1516b290809b291f03dfaba228d8f8aa700472dc249e1fa9fed58148f65f; retrieved 2026-09-23T04:50:33.137Z.