FTW91DRA02 · W. R. Mathis MIDGET MUSTANG MIDGET MUS
W. R. Mathis MIDGET MUSTANG MIDGET MUS · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW91DRA02
- 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
W. R. Mathis MIDGET MUSTANG MIDGET MUS
- Aircraft type
- W R Mathis MIDGET MUSTANG
- 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
- N43WM
- Operator
- William R. Mathis · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo 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
- 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
- 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
No findings designated as a cause are recorded in the NTSB data yet.
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Nacogdoches, TX, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
DURING THE TAKEOFF ON THE 3,000 FOOT LONG SOD STRIP, THE AIRPLANE GOT AIRBORNE AFTER ABOUT 1,000 FEET OF ROLL. AT THREE TO FIVE FEEL AGL, THE PILOT EXPERIENCED A LOSS OF POWER AND 'IMMEDIATELY THE PLANE DROPPED TO THE RUNWAY AND BOUNCED SEVERAL TIMES OFF TO THE LEFT.' THE PILOT PULLED THE NOSE UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO LAND STRAIGHT AHEAD BUT IMPACTED A TREE WITH THE LEFT WING. TERRAIN IMPACT OCCURRED IMMEDIATELY THEREAFTER. A REPLACEMENT BENDIX HAD BEEN INSTALLED ON THE ENGINE THREE DAYS PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT. THE STARTER BENDIX WAS FOUND STILL ENGAGED TO THE FLYWHEEL DURING THE POST ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION BY FAA INSPECTORS. EXAMINATION OF THE BRUSH HOUSING AND ARMATURE REVEALED EVIDENCE OF AN OVERHEATING CONDITION.
Probable cause
POWER LOSS DUE TO ENGINE STARTER FAILURE FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW91DRA02
- Event ID
- 20001212X16995
- Case number
- FTW91DRA02
- 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: 02e0522d251eced45c4c6ed4e2e1055e132d558e897f12c2134afcdbb4f4d1c3; retrieved 2026-09-21T15:27:59.551Z.