MIA89FA078 · Beech A23-24
Beech A23-24 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Clearwater Air Park (CLW) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA89FA078
- 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 A23-24
- 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
- N3697Q
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Clearwater Air Park (CLW), Clearwater, FLTo 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
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Fluid, fuel › Starvation
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Fuel tank selector position, improper
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Clearwater, FL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
ON FINAL APCH AFTER A TRNG FLT, AN ACFT WAS STILL ON THE RWY, SO CFI TOLD 30 HR STUDENT PLT TO GO-ARND. POWER WAS APPLIED & WITNESSES ON GRND HEARD ENG REV UP OK. ABOUT 1/2 WAY DOWN RWY AT ABOUT 200 FT, THE ENG SPUTTERED & CFI TRIED A 180 DEG TURN BACK TO RWY. ACFT HIT FENCES AND CONST MATERIAL & BURST INTO FLAMES. FUEL SEL WAS FOUND OUT OF DETENT BUT ON LT TANK WHICH HOLDS 30 GALS, 26 GALS USABLE. THE ACFT BURNS ABOUT 8 GPH & HAD FLOWN FOR A TOTAL OF ABOUT 4 HRS SINCE TOPPED OFF TO 60 GALS CAPACITY. NO FUEL FOUND IN FUEL MANIFOLD & ENG WAS TEST RUN OK AFTER ACCIDENT. LT WING TANK AREA HAD LESS FIRE DAMAGE THAN RT WING AREA WHICH CONTAINED MORE FUEL. THE STU PLT RECALLED THE FUEL SEL BEING ON THE LT TANK; THE CFI SAID HE THOUGHT IT WAS ON THE RT TANK. THE CFI STATED THAT HE HAD NO RECOLLECTION AFTER THE ENG QUIT EXCEPT BEING IN A CHOPPER ON THE WAY TO A HOSPITAL.
Probable cause
FUEL STARVATION DUE TO THE CFI DEPLETING THE FUEL SUPPLY FROM ONE OF TWO TANKS AND FAILING TO SELECT THE FULLEST TANK FOR LANDING. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE CFI'S IMPROPER DECISION TO TURN BACK TO THE AIRPORT WHEN INSUFFICIENT ALTITUDE WAS AVAILABLE TO COMPLETE THE MANEUVER.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA89FA078
- Event ID
- 20001213X27757
- Case number
- MIA89FA078
- 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: f3030f5577d39ffdb193473ff3f7a272bef524ea01145eee8908d3bb2cbe5ed2; retrieved 2026-09-21T15:58:29.037Z.