FTW90GA137 · Cessna 404
Cessna 404 · Accident: abrupt maneuver on approach
From San Angelo Regional Mathis Field (SJT) to San Angelo Regional Mathis Field (SJT)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW90GA137
- 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 404
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 404
- 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
- N6239G
- Operator
- U.S. Customs
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From San Angelo Regional Mathis Field (SJT)To San Angelo Regional Mathis Field (SJT)
- 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 · IFR final approach
- 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
- Abrupt maneuver
- 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 › Powerplant controls, improper use of
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of San Angelo, TX, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
FM 9500' MSL AT 35 DME, COPLT (SIC) BGN (HOODED TYPE) ILS RWY 3 APCH WITH 14 TO 22 KT TAILWIND. HE PLANNED NOT TO EXCEED500'/MIN RATE OF DSCNT TO AVOID SUPERCOOLING ENGS. PIC RPRTD ACFT WAS OFF COURSE & ABT 1500' HI AS IT APCHD OM. HE TOOK CTL & MNVRD ACFT ON COURSE & GP, THEN RTRND CTL TO SIC TO CONT ILS. DRG MNVR, 2500'/MIN DSCNT OCCURRED; SPD INCRD 31 KT.AS APCH CONTD, PIC EXTDD GEAR & FLAPS. AS ACFT SLOWED & BGN SETTLING, SIC ADVND THROTTLES, BUT ENGS DIDN'T RESPOND. PIC TOOK CTL & BOTH PLTS MANIPULATED ENG CTLS, BUT PWR WASN'T RESTORED. RECALLATIONS DIFFERED; NEITHER PLT COULD RECALL ENG INST INDCNS. GEAR COLLAPSED AS ACFT CTCD GND SHORT OF RWY & SLID THRU FENCE. MIX CTLS WERE FND ABT 4 TO 5 'CLICKS' AFT OF FULL FWD PSN, THROTTLES FND AT ABT 3/4 FWD PSN; ABT 80 GAL OF FUEL FND IN WING TANKS. INV REVEALED SERIES OF MAINT WRITE-UPS NOTING ENGS HAD RUN RICH & ROUGH, BUT NO PRE-ACDNT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION WAS FND. ENGS OPNLY CHECKED OK.REAR SEAT PAX THOUGHT PIC PULLED PROP CTLS 'DOWN' & BACK FWD. GND WITNESS RPRTD SOUND AS IF 'PROP REVERSERS REVVED UP.'
Probable cause
IMPROPER USE OF POWERPLANT CONTROLS BY THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND (PIC). FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE PIC'S INADEQUATE CREW COORDINATION, AND THE EXCESSIVE AIRSPEED AND RATE OF DESCENT THAT RESULTED, WHEN THE PIC MANEUVERED THE AIRCRAFT BACK ON COURSE AND GLIDE PATH.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW90GA137
- Event ID
- 20001212X23698
- Case number
- FTW90GA137
- 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: fe72ab5c442077f4982b62eb751125f3466e6cfd732ea1815f276de3f869c8c7; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:49:32.789Z.