ATL90FA163 · Mitsubishi MU-2B-36
Tennessee Air Mitsubishi MU-2B-36 · Accident: loss of engine power during takeoff
From Nashville International Airport (BNA) to City of Murfreesboro Airport (MBT)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL90FA163
- 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
- 1 · 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
Mitsubishi MU-2B-36
- Aircraft type
- Mitsubishi MU-2
- 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
- N82MA
- Operator
- Tennessee Air
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Nashville International Airport (BNA)To City of Murfreesboro Airport (MBT), Murfreesboro, TN
- 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
- Takeoff · roll/run
- 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
- Loss of engine power
- 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
- Company/operator management › Maintenance, not performed
- Company/operator management › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, performed
- Pilot in command › Abort, not performed
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
ON A PREVIOUS FLT, LOW POWER WAS NOTED IN THE RGT ENG, THE RGT ENG FUEL FLOW WAS 5 TO 8 GAL/HR LESS THAN THE LEFT ENG & THE RGT ENG TEMP (ITT) WAS ABT 500 DEG LESS THAN THE LEFT. A DECISION WAS MADE TO FERRY THE ACFT TO A MAINT FACILITY TO HAVE THE RGT ENG EXAMINED. THE PLT TOOK OFF ON A 5186' RWY (RWY 2C) WITH A LGT TAIL WIND IN 95 DEG TEMP, THOUGH THE ARPT HAD LONGER RWYS (7702', 8000' & 8500'). A WITNESS NOTED THE ACFT LIFTED OFF AT THE END OF THE RWY (CHARTS SHOWED THE TAKEOFF ROLL WITH NORMAL POWER SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABT 3100'). WITNESSES RPRTD THE ACFT REMAINED LOW (NEARLY HITTING A 55' LGT STANDARD) UNTIL IT ROLLED RGT & 'DROPPED LIKE A ROCK.' IMPACT OCCURRED IN A RGT WING LOW ATTITUDE ABT 2 MI FM THE DEP END OF RWY 2C. THE ACFT WAS EXTENSIVELY DMGD BY IMPACT & FIRE; NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE WAS FND. BOTH ENGS HAD EVIDENCE OF ENG ROTATION AT THE TIME OF IMPACT. THE OPERATOR'S LEAD MECHANIC HAD RPRTD FOR DUTY ABT 3 HRS BEFORE THE ACDNT FLT, BUT HE HAD NOT BEEN INFORMED OF THE ENG PROBLEM BEFORE THE ACFT TOOK OFF.
Probable cause
THE COMPANY/OPERATOR MANAGEMENT'S DECISION TO OPERATE THE AIRCRAFT WITH A KNOWN DEFICIENCY WITHOUT FURTHER MAINTENANCE, THE PILOT'S IMPROPER PLANNING/DECISION AND THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO ABORT THE TAKEOFF (WHILE THERE WAS SUFFICIENT RUNWAY REMAINING). FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: LACK OF POWER IN THE RIGHT ENGINE, AND THE UNFAVORABLE METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS AT THE AIRPORT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL90FA163
- Event ID
- 20001212X24176
- Case number
- ATL90FA163
- 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: 3d989f0866378885eacc6d7f7c806ad9a61abf5e42c41919ba1da38d5a791081; retrieved 2026-09-21T02:16:09.691Z.