Tpi International Airlines Lockheed L-188A accident
Lockheed L-188A · Accident: airframe, component or system failure en route
From Hato International Airport (TNCC) to Tocumen International Airport (MPTO)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA90LA153
- 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
- Airline
- 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
Lockheed L-188A
- Aircraft type
- Lockheed L-188
- 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
- N4465F
- Operator
- Tpi International Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Hato International Airport (TNCC), OranjestadTo Tocumen International Airport (MPTO), Panama City
- 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 121: Air Carrier
- 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 · climb to 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
- Airframe, component or system failure
- 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
- Propeller system/accessories › Separation
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
- Reduction gear assembly › Separation
Not plotted · Location withheld: coordinates are missing, conflicting, invalid, or have no accepted acquisition method. No substitute location has been invented.
NTSB narrative
WHILE IN CLIMB AT 18,000 FT THE CRW HEARD AND EXPLOSION AND LOST NOS 3 AND 4 ENGINES. THEY VISUALLY NOTED THAT THE PROPELLERS AND PORTIONS OF THE GEARBOXES WERE ALSO MISSING. THEY THEN SHUT DOWN NO 2 ENGINE DUE TO ERRATIC INDICATIONS. THEY DECLARED AN EMERGENCY AND LANDED. THE GEAR BOXES AND PROPELLERS WERE NOT RECOVERED FROM THE CARIBBEAN SEA.
Probable cause
THE INFLIGHT LOSS OF THE NOS 3 AND 4 PROPELLERS AND GEARBOXES FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS. THE FAILED COMPONENTS WERE NOT RECOVERED FROM THE CARIBBEAN SEA.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA90LA153
- Event ID
- 20001212X23760
- Case number
- MIA90LA153
- 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: d4d6968e32d6d03bbd5e66fc65f5d4d9b5042c0ae39156e492890bdd768d5f7f; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:01:17.465Z.