FTW92LA016 · Balkema/Boven KESTREL HAWK KESTREL HA
Balkema/Boven KESTREL HAWK KESTREL HA · Accident: loss of engine power on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW92LA016
- 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
Balkema/Boven KESTREL HAWK KESTREL HA
- Aircraft type
- Balkema/boven KESTREL HAWK
- 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
- N601AS
- Operator
- Anupinder Singh Guron
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern downwind
- 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
- Loss of engine power
- 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
- Stall
- 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 › Stall, inadvertent
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of West Memphis, AR, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
DURING A DAYTIME EXTENDED DOWNWIND APPROACH AT 300 FEET AGL, THE PILOT ALLOWED THE AIRSPEED TO DROP BELOW 50 MPH. THE ENGINE RPM DECREASED BELOW 1500 RPM AND SUBSEQUENTLY THE ENGINE LOST ALL POWER. THE PILOT MADE A DESCENDING RIGHT TURN FOR THE FORCED LANDING INTO A FIELD. AT APPROXIMATELY 40 FEET AGL, THE PILOT FLARED THE AIRPLANE, BUT LOST CONTROL AND IMPACTED THE TERRAIN IN A VERTICAL DESCENT. NO MECHANICAL MALFUNCTION TO FLIGHT CONTROLS OR STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS WERE FOUND DURING THE INVESTIGATION. ACCORDING TO THE MANUFACTURER'S LIMITATIONS, IMPROPER FUEL WAS IN THE AIRPLANE. THE MANUFACTURER'S FLIGHT MANUAL DID NOT ADDRESS NORMAL OR EMERGENCY PROCEDURES FOR THE AIRPLANE WHEN FLOAT EQUIPPED. THE OPERATOR WHO WAS INVOLVED IN THE MAINTENANCE OF THE AIRPLANE, REPORTED A HISTORY OF FUEL VAPORIZATION IN THE FUEL LINES.
Probable cause
THE PILOT ALLOWED THE AIRCRAFT TO ENTER AN INADVERTENT STALL DURING FLARE AT EXCESSIVE ALTITUDE WHILE EXECUTING THE FORCED LANDING. FACTORS WERE THE PILOT IN COMMAND AND UNAUTHORIZED PERSON PERFORMED CARBURETOR MAINTENANCE ADJUSTMENTS PRIOR TO FLIGHT, AND THE USE OF AN IMPROPER GRADE FUEL.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW92LA016
- Event ID
- 20001212X18305
- Case number
- FTW92LA016
- 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: 8fbdbbcc76124578b133797c03aa089e8d1e12f94ff0c41179d975b50a1d1006; retrieved 2026-09-21T15:14:51.653Z.