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MIA91FA107 · Beech 95-B55

24 Mar 1991 · CHASSAHOWITZKA, FL, United States

Beech 95-B55 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather while maneuvering

From Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE) to Tallahassee International Airport (TLH)

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Event

NTSB case
MIA91FA107
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
3 · 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
Instrument Meteorological Cond

Beech 95-B55

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 55
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
N95BE
Operator
Odem, John W. · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE), FT. LAUDERDALE, FLTo Tallahassee International Airport (TLH), Tallahassee, 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
Maneuvering
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
In flight encounter with weather
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
Visual flight rules (VFR) flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC)
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

  • Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
  • Pilot in command › Spatial disorientation
  • Pilot in command › VFR flight into imc, performed

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

NTSB narrative

NON-INSTRUMENT RATED PLT RECEIVED WX BRIEFING FOR VFR FLT. DEPT POINT AND DEST WERE VFR AND EN ROUTE CONDITIONS WERE MARGINAL VFR. FLT DEPT AND NO FURTHER RADIO CONTACT WITH FLT WAS MADE. 1 HOUR 25 MIN LATER WITNESSES SAW ACFT FLYING IN AND OUT OF 200 FOOT OVERCAST. A SHORT TIME LATER OTHER WITNESSES HEARD ACFT FLYING ACROSS MARSH WITH ENGINES OPERATING NORMALLY. ENGINE NOISE CEASED ABRUPTLY AND THEY TURNED TO SEE CLOUD OF MUD AND WATER. ACFT HAD IMPACTED AT HIGH SPEED IN APPROX 60 DEGREE RIGHT BANK AND 20 TO 30 DEGREE NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE. PIECES OF ALL ACFT COMPONENTS NECESSARY FOR FLT WERE LOCATED AT THE CRASH SITE. SOME OF THE ACFT STRUCTURE AND THE TWO ENGINES AND PROPELLERS WERE NOT RECOVERED FROM THE MUDDY CRASH SITE. THE PLT LAST LOGGED SIMULATED INSTRUMENT TIME 15 MONTHS BEFORE THE ACCIDENT.

Probable cause

THE PILOT IN COMMANDS CONTINUED VFR FLIGHT INTO IFR CONDITIONS RESULTING IN AN INFLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL AND AN INFLIGHT COLLISION WITH THE GROUND.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA91FA107
Event ID
20001212X16650
Case number
MIA91FA107
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: 1de62cac4684337f6fca8b502b33558bf999f0bfd276b4b13f4fecb37e85a38b; retrieved 2026-09-21T01:54:04.263Z.