CHI88DEC01 · Beech 23
Beech 23 · Accident: loss of engine power on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI88DEC01
- 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 23
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 23
- 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
- N2326L
- Operator
- Unknown
- 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
- 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
- Loss of engine power
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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
- Pilot in command › Reason for occurrence undetermined
- Terrain condition › Water
- Unsuitable terrain or takeoff/landing/taxi area
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT STATED THAT, AFTER A LOCAL PLEASURE FLIGHT WITH HIS CHILDREN AS PASSENGERS, HE RETURNED TO HIS DEPARTURE AIRPORT AND RE-ENTERED THE TRAFFIC PATTERN FOR RUNWAY 22. HE REPORTED THAT WHILE ON FINAL APPROACH HE DIDN'T LIKE THE WAY THINGS LOOKED AND CHOSE TO GO-AROUND. HE STATED THAT INITIALLY THE AIRCRAFT RESPONDED NORMALLY AND BEGAN TO CLIMB, BUT 'IMMEDIATELY AFTER METERING OFF FLAPS, THE ENGINE BEGAN TO VIBRATE GROSSLY OUT-OF-BALANCE.' THE PILOT PERFORMED EMERGENCY PROCEDURES, BUT THE 'LOSS OF POWER AND ALTITUDE CONTINUED....LAKE LANDING WAS VERY SUSPECT DUE TO LACK OF ALTITUDE. REVIEWED AREA FOR ALTERNATIVE - NONE!' THE AIRCRAFT STRUCK THE TOP OF A LARGE TREE AND THEN CONTACTED A SMALLER TREE BEFORE IT DESCENDED INTO THE LAKE. PILOT AND PASSENGERS WERE ABLE TO EXIT THE AIRCRAFT BEFORE IT SANK. THE AIRCRAFT WAS SUBMERGED FOR MORE THAN 20 HOURS BEFORE IT WAS RECOVERED FROM THE LAKE. A SUBSEQUENT ENGINE RUN-UP WAS SATISFACTORILY ACCOMPLISHED.
Probable cause
THE UNSUITABLE TERRAIN (TREES AND A LAKE) ENCOUNTERED DURING A FORCED LANDING MADE NECESSARY BY THE PARTIAL FAILURE OF THE AIRCRAFT'S POWERPLANT DURING AND ATTEMPTED GO-AROUND. THE OCCUPANTS WERE ABLE TO EXIT THE AIRCRAFT BEFORE IT SANK; THE AIRCRAFT WAS SUBMERGED FOR OVER 20 HOURS BEFORE IT WAS SALVAGED FROM THE LAKE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI88DEC01
- Event ID
- 20001213X25420
- Case number
- CHI88DEC01
- 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: ff13a966c1ddb7abe09758497911db0fd11504df12310e975aea7eda112e9dfa; retrieved 2026-09-22T00:35:07.697Z.