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MIA89LA011 · Beech 35

15 Oct 1988 · Tampa, FL, United States

Beech 35 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb

From MacDill Air Force Base (MCF) to Clearwater Air Park (CLW)

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Event

NTSB case
MIA89LA011
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 35

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
N4553V
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From MacDill Air Force Base (MCF)To Clearwater Air Park (CLW), St. Petersburg, FL
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
Initial climb
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 contamination
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 › Contamination
  • Fluid, fuel › Water
  • Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Tampa, FL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

THE PLT STATED THE ACFT WAS TOPPED WITH 30 GALS OF AUTO FUEL PRIOR TO DEPARTING FOR THE OPEN HOUSE AT MCDILL AFB. THE FLT TO MCDILL WAS NORMAL. BEFORE DEPARTURE, ABOUT 1/2 INCH OF WATER WAS DRAINED FROM THE FUEL SYSTEM DURING PREFLT INSPECTION. AT ABOUT 300 FT IMMEDIATELY AFTER TAKEOFF, THE ENGINE QUIT & THE PLT MADE A FORCED LDG INTO A FIELD WHERE THE RT WING OF THE ACFT HIT A POLE AS IT SLID ALONG ON THE BELLY. THE ENGINE WAS SUBSEQUENTLY TEST-RUN SATISFACTORILY.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA89LA011
Event ID
20001213X27116
Case number
MIA89LA011
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: ee88d297ea626d9d405f09c00c06ce5bae99fe0dd8fb9666ace9a78443474f95; retrieved 2026-09-21T16:01:57.154Z.