ATL91FA026 · Beech D-55
Beech D-55 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (Lovell Field) (CHA) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL91FA026
- 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
Beech D-55
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft D-55
- 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
- N2000Q
- Operator
- Kennedy, Charles L.JR · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (Lovell Field) (CHA), Chattanooga, TNTo 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
- Approach · VFR go-around
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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
- Fuel starvation
- 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
- Fluid, fuel › Starvation
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE FLIGHT WAS SEQUENCED BEHIND A MALIBU FOR LANDING ON RUNWAY 03, AND THE PILOT WAS INSTRUCTED TO ALLOW THE MALIBU AMPLE SPACE FOR THE LANDING. ABOUT 1/2 MILE FROM TOUCHDOWN THE PILOT WAS INSTRUCTED TO GO AROUND TO ALLOW THE MALIBU TIME TO CLEAR RUNWAY 03. THE PILOT STARTED A GO AROUND AND REPORTED A DUAL ENGINE MALFUNCTION DURING THE CLIMBOUT. THE FLIGHT WAS CLEARED TO LAND ON ANY RUNWAY. AS THE PILOT TURNED LEFT TOWARD RWY 21, THE ACFT CRASHED INTO A SMALL GROVE OF TREES 1100 FEET LEFT OF THE EXTENDED CENTER LINE FOR RUNWAY 21. EXAMINATION OF THE AIRPLANE REVEALED THAT THE PILOT HAD PLACED THE FUEL SELECTOR VALVES IN THE AUX POSITION. A PLACARD ON THE FUEL SELECTOR VALVE ASSEMBLY STATED 'USE AUX TANKS AND CROSS FEED FOR LEVEL FLIGHT ONLY.' SUBSEQUENT EXAMINATIONS OF THE AIRFRAME AND POWER PLANTS FAILED TO DISCLOSE ANY MECHANICAL OR SYSTEM MALFUNCTION. DURING THE POST ACCIDENT EXAMINATION, THE RIGHT ENGINE STARTED AND OPERATED, ON THE AIRFRAME, WITH THE EXISTING FUEL AND SUPPORTIVE SYSTEMS.
Probable cause
FUEL STARVATION. A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR WAS THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO FOLLOW NORMAL FUEL SYSTEM OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES WHICH RESULTED IN THE TOTAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL91FA026
- Event ID
- 20001212X24714
- Case number
- ATL91FA026
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1990-12-05.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 416c612d544ff0cc676bedfc5bb20e327176515608bed42bc97013c5289b8b8a; retrieved 2026-09-21T15:32:57.506Z.