FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

Corporate Aviation SVCS Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 accident

16 Nov 1988 · Chicago, IL, United States

Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb

From an unrecorded airport to St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL)

Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
CHI89FA026
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
1 · 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
Charter & commuter
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

Mitsubishi MU-2B-60

Aircraft type
Mitsubishi MU-2
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
N271MA
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL), St. Louis, MO
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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
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
Loss of control in flight
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Compensation for wind conditions, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Directional control, not maintained

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

NTSB narrative

THE FIRST TAKEOFF WAS ABORTED DUE TO A PERCEIVED ENGINE PROBLEM. SIX MINUTES LATER ON SECOND TAKEOFF, THE AIRCRAFT CLIMBED TO 50 FEET, DRIFTED TO THE RIGHT, ROLLED RIGHT AND IMPACTED IN THE INFIELD. THIS WAS A SINGLE PILOT OPERATION IN A COMPLEX AIRCRAFT. WINDS EXCEEDED THE DEMONSTRATED CROSSWIND LIMITATION OF THE AIRCRAFT. THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE THAT THE PILOT WAS USING THE SEAT BELT OR SHOULDER HARNESS. POST CRASH INVESTIGATION OF BOTH ENGINES AND PROPS DETERMINED THAT THERE WERE NO OPERATIONAL DEFECTS AND THAT BOTH WERE PORDUCING POWER AT THE TIME OF IMPACT. STRONG GUSTY WINDS VARYING IN INTENSITY FROM 15 TO 30 KNOTS AND VARYING IN DIRECTION FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHWEST WERE PREVALENT AT THE AIRPORT ON THE DAY OF THE ACCIDENT. THE PROP CONDITION LEVERS WERE FOUND IN THE TAXI POSITION AND THE POWER LEVERS WERE SET WITH THE LEFT ENGINE NEAR FLIGHT IDLE POSITION AND THE RIGHT ENGINE AT THE TAKEOFF POSITION.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI89FA026
Event ID
20001213X27221
Case number
CHI89FA026
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 1988-11-17.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 96221704db93df2a786f3fa8bd96b06f3d464d1149bf64ff2d74dbf1d92e544e; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:10:12.153Z.