FTW90LA078 · Cessna T50-A17
Cessna T50-A17 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb
From an unrecorded airport to TULA ROSA, TX (no airport)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW90LA078
- 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
Cessna T50-A17
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 50
- 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
- N578EK
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo TULA ROSA, TX (no airport)
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
- 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
- Wire, transmission; Pole; Tree(s)
- 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
- Fuel system, carburetor › Binding(mechanical)
- Pilot in command › Clearance, misjudged
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE AIRCRAFT WAS DEPARTING FROM AN AIRSTRIP ON A FERRY PERMIT FOR AN INOPERABLE LANDING GEAR MECHANISM. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT THE AIRCRAFT'S RIGHT ENGINE FAILED AT APPROXIMATELY 75 TO 100 FEET AGL DURING INITIAL CLIMB. THE PROPELLER WAS NOT OF A TYPE THAT COULD BE FEATHERED. HE STATED THAT HE WAS UNABLE TO LAND ON THE REMAINING RUNWAY AND ELECTED TO CIRCLE TO LAND. DURING THE CIRCLING MANEUVER, THE PILOT FELT THAT HE WOULD BE UNABLE TO RETURN TO THE AIRSTRIP AND ATTEMPTED TO ALIGN THE AIRCRAFT FOR LANDING ON A ROAD AHEAD OF THE AIRCRAFT. DURING A STEEP RIGHT BANK FOR THIS PURPOSE THE AIRCRAFT'S RIGHT WING STRUCK A POWER LINE, CARTWHEELED, AND COLLIDED WITH THE TERRAIN. THE ON SITE INSPECTION REVEALED THAT BOTH ENGINES WERE HAVING SOME CARBURETOR HEAT APPLIED EVEN THOUGH THE CONTROL POSITIONS WERE OFF. THE RIGHT CARBURETOR INLET SCREEN WAS VERY DIRTY AND THE ACCELERATOR PUMP WAS STUCK AT THE ONE QUARTER THROTTLE OPEN POSITION. THIS WAS NOT IMPACT RELATED.
Probable cause
AN ENGINE FAILURE CAUSED BY A MALFUNCTIONING CARBURETOR AND THE PILOT'S MISJUDGING HIS OBSTACLE CLEARANCE WHICH RESULTED IN A WIRE STRIKE WHILE MANEUVERING TO LAND. FACTORS IN THE ACCIDENT WERE THE UNCOMMANDED DEPLOYMENT OF CARBURETOR HEAT ON BOTH ENGINES, AN INOPERATIVE GEAR RETRACTION SYSTEM, AND A PROPELLER SYSTEM WHICH COULD NOT BE FEATHERED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW90LA078
- Event ID
- 20001212X22719
- Case number
- FTW90LA078
- 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: f668be4384936ad23fd69bb5aacac4939414493da7b62b1bc1445f669fc1644d; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:56:51.104Z.