FTW89DRA03 · Benson B-8-M
Benson B-8-M · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From T-41 · La Porte, TX to T-41
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW89DRA03
- 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
Benson B-8-M
- Aircraft type
- Benson B-8
- Category
- Gyroplane
- 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
- N9763N
- Operator
- Faulk, Mrvin L. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From T-41 · La Porte, TXTo T-41
- 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
- Partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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
- Carburetor heat control › Not installed
- Fuel system, carburetor › Ice
- Pilot in command › Proper descent rate, not possible
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING THE TAKEOFF CLIMB THE ACFT SUSTAINED A LOSS OF POWER. THE STUDENT PLT HAD TO EXTEND THE GLIDE TO CLEAR OBSTACLES DURING THE FORCED LANDING. THE PLT STATED THE ENG RPM GRADUALLY DECREASED DURING THE CLIMB TO THE POINT THAT HE COULD NOT SUSTAIN FLT. THE ICING PROBABILITY CHARTS INDICATED THAT CONDITIONS WERE FAVORABLE FOR THE FORMATION OF VISIBLE ICE IN THE INDUCTION SYSTEM AT RATED PWR. THERE WAS NO OTHER SUITABLE TERRAIN AVAILABLE FOR THE FORCED LNDG.
Probable cause
HARD LANDING WHICH OCCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE PILOT HAVING TO EXTEND HIS GLIDE OVER OBSTACLES ON SHORT FINAL TO THE FORCED LANDING AREA. THE FORCED LANDING WAS EXECUTED AS A RESULT OF ENGINE PERFORMANCE DEGRADATION DUE TO INDUCTION ICING FOR WHICH NO PROVISIONS HAD BEEN MADE DURING THE INSTALLATION.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW89DRA03
- Event ID
- 20001213X27887
- Case number
- FTW89DRA03
- 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: e5c2bc7bc769bdfb603bff9f85550be3b0e5a8e67b12b023509127fde0f5359f; retrieved 2026-09-23T07:46:52.483Z.