FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

FTW88DQG03 · Beech G35

26 Jan 1988 · Friona, TX, United States

Beech G35 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure

From Avenger Field (SWW) to Q54 · Friona, TX

Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
FTW88DQG03
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 G35

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 35
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
N313B
Operator
Joe W. Lewellen · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Avenger Field (SWW), Sweetwater, TXTo Q54 · Friona, TX
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
Other
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

  • Landing gear, emergency extension assembly › Not engaged
  • Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, inadequate

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

NTSB narrative

AFTER TOUCHDOWN ON THE LANDING STRIP, THE LEFT LANDING GEAR COLLAPSED, AND THE AIRPLANE WENT OFF THE LEFT SIDE OF THE STRIP. THE AIRPLANE WENT INTO A WATER PIT, AND STRUCK A PUMP STATION AND ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT. LATER THE PILOT STATED TO HIS SON THAT HE HAD NOT BEEN FEELING WELL DURING THE FLIGHT, AND ALSO THAT THE ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT HAD NOT BEEN WORKING PROPERLY. HE SAID HE COULD NOT GET A DOWN AND LOCKED INDICATION FOR THE LANDING GEAR, BUT HAD NOT USED THE EMERGENCY EXTENSION SYSTEM. DURING THE POST-ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION, IT WAS FOUND THAT THE IGNITION SWITCH WAS NOT WORKING PROPERLY, AND THAT THERE WAS AN INTERCONNECT BETWEEN THE IGNITION SWITCH AND THE BATTERY SWITCH. THE BATTERY WOULD NOT BECOME OPERATIONAL AFTER THE BATTERY SWITCH WAS TURNED ON, UNTIL THE IGNITION SWITCH WAS 'WIGGLED'.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW88DQG03
Event ID
20001213X24896
Case number
FTW88DQG03
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: 286ab0b17a134ffbcd78c8bd5a07aed8b514f7b56f9ae2f2e164f5f718afdc85; retrieved 2026-09-23T11:11:24.585Z.