DEN89LA014 · Beech 58
Rangeflyers Beech 58 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (ICT) to Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK)
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN89LA014
- 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 58
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 58
- 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
- N31135
- Operator
- Rangeflyers
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (ICT), Wichita, KSTo Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK), Oakland, CA
- 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
- En route · climb to cruise
- 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 › Emergency procedure, inadequate
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Garfield, CO, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
N31135 WAS BEING FERRIED TO JAPAN FROM WICHITA WITH AN ENROUTE STOP IN OAKLAND, CA. THE ACFT WAS EQUIPPED WITH CABIN MOUNTED FERRY TANKS. THE PLT STATED THAT HE SWITCHED FROM THE ACFT FUEL TANKS TO THE FERRY TANK AND ABOUT 20 MINUTES LATER THE RIGHT ENG QUIT. THE PLT DESCRIBED THE ENG FAILURE AS IF 'SELECTING IDLE CUTOFF ON THE MIXTURE LEVER.' THE PLT HAD NOT YET PERFORMED THE ENG OUT PROCEDURES AFTER SWITCHING FUEL TANKS WITH UNSUCCESSFUL RESULTS, WHEN THE RT ENG 'SUDDENLY CONTINUED TO RUN AGAIN NORMALLY.' THE PILOT STATED THAT HE WAS PASSING THROUGH 13,000FT MSL IN A CLIMB WHEN THE ENG QUIT. HE SAID HE LOST A FEW THOUSAND FT DURING THE ENG OUT. THE AIRCRAFT CRASHED IN MONARCH PASS AT 11,300 FT WITH BOTH ENGINES OPERATING. POST CRASH EXAM DID NOT REVEAL ANY MALFUNCTIONS. THE PLT HAD FLOWN OVER TWO AIRPORTS DURING THE ENG OUT. THE TERRAIN ELEVATION OF THE AREA TO THE EAST OF THE ACC SITE WAS HALF THAT OF THE PASS. THE ACFT WAS BEING OPERATED AT A GROSS WEIGHT THAT WAS ABOUT 1,000 LBS OVER THE NORMAL MAX GROSS WEIGHT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN89LA014
- Event ID
- 20001213X27040
- Case number
- DEN89LA014
- 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: e3b4bf4efffba3ab3b7ee1b067a888530cc6849a5ac19c3fb7ee5a5968227aa3; retrieved 2026-09-22T00:21:54.710Z.