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MIA91FA020 · Aero Commander 680V

3 Nov 1990 · Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States

Aero Commander 680V · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during takeoff

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Event

NTSB case
MIA91FA020
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

Aero Commander 680V

Aircraft type
Aero Commander 680
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
N541F
Operator
Bobadilla, Pastor · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo not recorded
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
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)
Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
Stall/spin
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

  • Bleed air system, valve › Open
  • Pilot in command › Airspeed(vso), not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, intentional

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

NTSB narrative

THE AIRPLANE HAD NOT FLOWN SINCE JUNE, 1989. THE FLIGHT HAD MADE 2 HIGH-SPEED TAXI OPERATIONS BEFORE TAKEOFF. IMMEDIATELY AFTER TAKEOFF THE FLIGHT CALLED TO LAND. THE AIRPLANE WAS OBSERVED ON DOWNWIND 200-800 FT AGL, 15-25 DEG NOSE HIGH. THE AIRPLANE THEN STALLED. THE COMPRESSOR SURGE VALVES FOR THE LEFT AND RIGHT ENGINES WERE FOUND IN THE OPEN POSITION.

Probable cause

THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND'S DECISION TO CONTINUE TAKEOFF WITH A KNOWN DEFICIENCY IN THE AIRPLANE - LOW POWER ON BOTH ENGINES WHICH RESULTED FROM OPEN COMPRESSOR SURGE VALVES. THE PILOT SUBSEQUENTLY FAILED TO MAINTAIN AIRSPEED WHILE MANEUVERING IN A TURN RESULTING IN AN IN-FLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL AND A STALL/SPIN.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA91FA020
Event ID
20001212X24650
Case number
MIA91FA020
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: fcd132eb79604d8e9177233509d8c5fd9b3bb621f7e35d9173543d381a791a66; retrieved 2026-09-21T02:05:48.134Z.