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Corporate Air Cessna 208B accident

6 Mar 1990 · LANAI, HI, United States

Cessna 208B · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route

From Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (PHNL) to Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole (KOA)

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Event

NTSB case
LAX90LA110
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
Charter & commuter
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 208B

Aircraft type
Cessna 208
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
N851FE
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (PHNL), Honolulu, HITo Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole (KOA), KONA, HI
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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
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
En route · cruise
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)
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

  • Lubricating system, oil filler cap › Loose
  • Lubricating system, oil filler cap › Not secured
  • Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, improper
  • Pilot in command › Proper glidepath, misjudged

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT SAID THAT HE SERVICED THE OIL QUATITY PRIOR TO DEPARTURE. THE AIRCRAFT WAS IN LEVEL CRUISE ABOUT EIGHT MILES FROM THE AIRPORT WHEN THE PILOT SAW THE PIL PRESSURE FLUCTUATING, THEN BEGIN DECREASING, WITH A CORRESPONDING DECREASE IN ENGINE TORQUE OUTPUT. THE PILOT FOLLOWED THE CHECKLIST AND SHUT DOWN THE ENGINE WHEN THE AIRCRAFT WAS OVER THE AIRPORT. THE PILOT SET UP A SPIRAL OVER THE AIRPORT TO LOSE ALTITUDE IN PREPARATION FOR A POWER OFF FORCED LANDING. THE PILOT SAID HE LET THE AIRCRAFT GET TOO LOW WHILE LINING UP FOR THE RUNWAY AND LANDED SHORT IN A FIELD. FAA INSPECTORS EXAMINED THE AIRCRAFT AND THE ENGINE AT THE SITE AND FOUND OIL COVERING THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE LOWER FUSELAGE. THE OIL FILLER CAP WAS FOUND LOOSE IN THE FILLER NECK. NO EVIDENCE OF OIL LEAKAGE WAS NOTED TO ANY PART OF THE ENGINE OR OIL LINES. THE 'O' RINGS IN THE OIL FILLER NECK WERE FOUND IN PLACE AND THE FILLER NECK WAS FOUND ATTACHED TO THE ENGINE WITH THE CORRECT TORQUE.

Probable cause

THE PILOT'S MISJUDGEMENT OF THE GLIDE PATH ANGLE WHILE EXECUTING A FORCED LANDING AT THE LANAI AIRPORT. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO PROPERLY SECURE THE OIL FILTER CAP PRIOR TO DEPARTURE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX90LA110
Event ID
20001212X22739
Case number
LAX90LA110
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: dd171bb211df32176fe41a5e3613be9ffe4c69811283bafae1d4fd345eed0d1f; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:04:05.126Z.