LAX91LA223 · Beech J35
Carrot & Gibbs Beech J35 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) while maneuvering
From Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX91LA223
- 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 J35
- 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
- N593B
- Operator
- Carrot & Gibbs
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF), Santa Fe, NMTo 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
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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 starvation
- 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
- Fluid, fuel › Starvation
- Pilot in command › Fuel supply, not selected
- Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, improper use of
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE RANCH CARETAKER SAID THE AIRCRAFT ARRIVED OVER THE RANCH AND MADE TWO LOW PASSES IN ORDER TO ATTRACT HIS ATTENTION TO THEIR ARRIVAL SO THAT HE COULD MEET THE AIRCRAFT. AT THE END OF THE SECOND LOW PASS, THE ENGINE QUIT AND THE AIRCRAFT HIT THE GROUND IN AN OPEN FIELD. THE AIRCRAFT WAS EXAMINED BY FAA INSPECTORS WHO REPORTED THAT THE LANDING GEAR AND FLAPS WERE UP. BOTH MAGNETOS PRODUCED SPARKS WITH HAND ROTATION. THE FUEL SELECTOR WAS FOUND IN THE RIGHT MAIN TANK POSITION. ABOUT 2 GALLONS OF FUEL WAS FOUND IN THE RIGHT MAIN FUEL TANK. THE FUEL FLOW DIVIDER AND THE ASSOCIATED FUEL LINES DID NOT CONTAIN ANY FUEL. THE INSPECTION OF THE AIRCRAFT DID NOT REVEAL ANY OTHER EVIDENCE OF A MECHANICAL MALFUNCTION OR FAILURE OF THE ENGINE. THE LEFT MAIN FUEL TANK WAS FOUND TO CONTAIN FUEL.
Probable cause
FUEL STARVATION DUE TO FUEL MISMANAGEMENT BY THE PILOT IN COMMAND.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX91LA223
- Event ID
- 20001212X17051
- Case number
- LAX91LA223
- 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: 8ea0e5a0857b8ea757f97c2f5efdb6dcb0b58b97aac219bc32baeb69f3dab921; retrieved 2026-09-21T15:26:57.774Z.