FTW89FA023 · Beech A36
Beech A36 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure en route
From University of Oklahoma Westheimer Airport (OUN) to Downtown Airport (3DW)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW89FA023
- 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
- 2 · 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Beech A36
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 36
- 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
- N6639R
- Operator
- Miller, David D. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From University of Oklahoma Westheimer Airport (OUN), Norman, OKTo Downtown Airport (3DW), Springfield, 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 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
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
- Wing › Ice
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Oklahoma City, OK, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT WAS BRIEFED ON FLT PRCTNS FOR IFR CONDS, TSTMS & OCNL MOD RIME ICING. DRG THE CLIMB, HE TOLD ATC HE WAS HAVING TROUBLE WITH HIS VACUUM & WAS DISORIENTED. ATC CLRD HIM FOR ALTITUDES HE COULD USE & BGN PROVIDING NO-GYRO VECTORS. A WXCHECK REVEALED THERE WERE NO ARPTS WITH VFR CONDS W/I 100 MI. THE PLT ELECTED TO DIVERT FOR AN ILS RWY 17R APCH TO THE WILL ROGERS WORLD ARPT. AS THE FLT CONTD, THE PLT RPRTD HE WAS STARTING TO "PICK UP A LITTLE ICE" & WAS HAVING TROUBLE CLIMBING. WITH ATC ASSIST, HE MADE AN ILS APCH, BUT WAS TOO HI TO MAKE A NORMAL LNDG. HE WAS TOLD TO CLIMB & TURN RGT FOR A MISSED APCH, BUT THE ACFT TURNED LEFT TO AN EASTERLY HDG & CRASH LANDED NEAR THE CENTER OF THE ARPT WITH THE GEAR DWN & FLAPS RETRACTED. THE GEAR COLLAPSED ON IMPACT. THE ACFT SLID 330' & STOPPED ON RWY 17L. IT THEN BURNED, DESTROYINGVACUUM HOSES, REGULATOR & MOST OF THE ATTITUDE INDCR, BUT THE VACUUM PUMP WAS STILL OPERABLE. ALTHOUGH THE ACFT BURNED, PIECES OF THICK ICE WERE FND ON THE LEFT WING. THE ACFT WAS NOT EQUIPPED FOR FLT INTO KNOWN ICING CONDS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW89FA023
- Event ID
- 20001213X27249
- Case number
- FTW89FA023
- 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 1988-11-20.
- API snapshot SHA-256: f4161003518eafb5ed5ae06da4c2863db8a00680b1d2a0acd3894bf464f7344f; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:28:48.188Z.