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MIA91LA149 · Cessna 172M

23 May 1991 · MISSING, AO

Savco Flying Cessna 172M · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure)

From Florida Keys Marathon International Airport (MTH) to North Perry Airport (HWO)

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Event

NTSB case
MIA91LA149
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
1 · 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

Cessna 172M

Aircraft type
Cessna 172
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
N73186
Operator
Savco Flying
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Florida Keys Marathon International Airport (MTH), Marathon, FLTo North Perry Airport (HWO), Hollywood, 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
Unknown
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 (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
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Reason for occurrence undetermined

Not plotted · Location withheld: coordinates are missing, conflicting, invalid, or have no accepted acquisition method. No substitute location has been invented.

NTSB narrative

THE PLT DEPARTED MARATHON, FLORIDA EN ROUTE TO HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA. A VFR FLIGHT PLANE WAS FILED BUT NOT ACTIVATED. THE PLT REPORTED ON GUARD FREQUENCY 'I'VE GOT NO OIL PRESSURE, I'AM GOING TO DITCH'. A SEARCH WAS INITIATED BY U.S. COAST GUARD AND TERMINATED 2 DAYS LATER. THE PLT'S FLIGHT BAG WASHED ASHORE. NO AIRPLANE WRECKAGE WAS SIGHTED. THE PLT IS PRESUMED DEAD.

Probable cause

THE LOSE OF ENGINE POWER FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS WHICH RESULTED IN A FORCED LANDING AND DITCHING IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA91LA149
Event ID
20001212X17079
Case number
MIA91LA149
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: b5531b881e30b46e321aa90153aa8d5ac207cc04e85afbfc99ec47b5440179d9; retrieved 2026-09-21T01:48:31.069Z.