FTW90FA125 · Bellanca 17-30A
Bellanca 17-30A · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) on approach
From Dallas Executive Airport (RBD) to TXK · Texarkana, TX
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW90FA125
- 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
- 2 · 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
Bellanca 17-30A
- Aircraft type
- Bellanca 17
- 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
- N6608V
- Operator
- Martin, Reagan M. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Dallas Executive Airport (RBD), Dallas, TXTo TXK · Texarkana, TX
- 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 turn to base
- 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
- Partial 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
- Pilot in command › Clearance, not possible
- Pilot in command › Visual/aural detection
- Powerplant › Failure, partial
- Powerplant › Failure, total
- Terrain condition › Hidden obstruction(s)
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING A FLIGHT FROM DALLAS TO TEXARKANA, TEXAS THE PILOT ENCOUNTERED LANDING GEAR PROBLEMS, SO HE ELECTED TO RETURN TO DALLAS RED BIRD AIRPORT. DURING HIS BASE LEG MANEUVERS HIS ENGINE LOST PARTIAL POWER, HOWEVER, POWER RETURNED MOMENTARILY BUT FAILED COMPLETELY WITHIN SECONDS. THE PILOT ATTEMPTED A LANDING TO A STREET IN A RESIDENTIAL AREA. DURING SHORT FINAL THE AIRLPLANE STRUCK A HIDDEN SET OF TRANSMISSION WIRES RESULTING IN DAMAGE TO THE RIGHT MAIN LANDING GEAR AND NOSE GEAR. AFTER THE AIRPLANE STRUCK THE WIRES ITS FLIGHT PATH ANGLE AND AIRCRAFT ATTITUDE ALTERED DRAMATICALLY. AFTER THE AIRPLANE CAME TO ITS FINAL RESTING PLACE IT WAS CONSUMED BY POST CRASH FIRE. NEITHER OCCUPANT ATTEMPTED TO EXIT THE AIRCRAFT.
Probable cause
THE INITIAL PARTIAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER, FOLLOWED BY THE TOTAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER AND THE STRIKING OF A HIDDEN SET OF TRANSMISSION WIRES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW90FA125
- Event ID
- 20001212X23418
- Case number
- FTW90FA125
- 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: 5b0c2019d65d87255676b565ac0a6bf3cb39295e28d816d03505422174432d34; retrieved 2026-09-21T02:32:33.214Z.