ATL91LA095 · Beech 55
Beech 55 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) on approach
From Robins Air Force Base (WRB) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL91LA095
- 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 55
- 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
- N42WE
- Operator
- Potter, Douglas A. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Robins Air Force Base (WRB), Warner Robins, GATo not recorded
- 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
- Approach · VFR go-around
- 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
- Partial loss of engine power (mechanical 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
- Pilot in command(cfi) › In-flight planning/decision, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE INSTRUCTOR PILOT STATED THAT IN ORDER TO SIMULATE AN ENGINE FAILURE, HE TURNED THE FUEL SELECTOR FOR THE RIGHT ENGINE TO THE 'OFF' POSITION. HE STATED THAT AT SOME POINT DURING THE APPROACH TO THE AIRFIELD HE RETURNED THE FUEL SELECTOR TO THE 'ON' POSITION AND RESTARTED THE RIGHT ENGINE. HE LEFT THE POWER ON THE RIGHT ENGINE AT A LOW POWER SETTING, TO CONTINUE TO SIMULATE A FAILED ENGINE. AT ABOUT 30 FEET A GO-AROUND WAS EXECUTED, AND BOTH ENGINES RESPONDED FOR ABOUT 30 SECONDS. AFTER 30 SECONDS, THE RIGHT ENGINE FAILED AND THE AIRCRAFT WOULD NOT CLIMB ON ONE ENGINE. IN ORDER TO AVOID POWER LINES, THE PILOT ELECTED TO ATTEMPT A FORCED LANDING IN A FIELD. DURING THE FORCED LANDING THE RIGHT WING CONTACTED THE TERRAIN AND THE AIRCRAFT CRASHED. THE AIRCRAFT PILOT'S MANUAL STATES THAT SINGLE ENGINE DEMONSTRATIONS SHOULD BE ACCOMPLISHED USING THE POWER AND PROPELLER LEVERS AND SHOULD BE ACCOMPLISHED AT 5000 FEET ABOVE GROUND LEVEL.
Probable cause
IMPROPER IN-FLIGHT PLANNING/DECISION BY THE PILOT IN COMMAND (CFI). THE IMPROPER PROCEDURE OF TURNING THE FUEL SELECTOR VALVE TO 'OFF' AT ALTITUDE TO SIMULATE A FAILED ENGINE, THEN DELAYING RESTARTING OF THE ENGINE UNTIL THE AIRCRAFT WAS ON FINAL APPROACH WAS A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL91LA095
- Event ID
- 20001212X16915
- Case number
- ATL91LA095
- 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: 9fe0609fc1496402cce856ba973ab13d343c01b8ff77e564e2660b2d18c668e8; retrieved 2026-09-23T04:11:38.511Z.