Borinquen Air Douglas DC-3 accident
Douglas DC-3 · Accident: loss of engine power on approach
From SKPK · ST. KITTS, CB to Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA89FA096
- 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
- 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
Douglas DC-3
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-3
- 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
- N28PR
- Operator
- Borinquen Air
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From SKPK · ST. KITTS, CBTo Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU), San Juan, PR
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern turn to base
- 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 engine power
- 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
- Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, not performed
- Pilot in command › Propeller feathering, not performed
- Pilot in command › Trim setting, not used
- Powerplant › Undetermined
Not plotted · Location withheld: coordinates are missing, conflicting, invalid, or have no accepted acquisition method. No substitute location has been invented.
NTSB narrative
THE CREW OF AN ALL CARGO FLIGHT EXPERIENCED A FAILURE OF THE LEFT ENGINE WHILE IN THE TRAFFIC PATTERN AT THEIR DESTINATION. THEY RAISED THE LANDING GEAR BUT FAILED TO FEATHER THE LEFT PROPELLER AND FAILED TO TRIM THE AIRCRAFT. THE RESULTING SKID AND INCREASED DRAG MADE FURTHER FLIGHT IMPOSSIBLE. THE CREW ELECTED TO DITCH THE AIRCRAFT IN A LAGOON ABOUT 2 MILES SOUTHWEST OF THE AIRPORT. THE AIRCRAFT WAS NOT RECOVERED FROM THE LAGOON AND THEREFORE IT WAS NOT DETERMINED WHY THE LEFT ENGINE LOST POWER.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE FLIGHT CREW TO FEATHER THE LEFT PROPELLER AND TRIM THE AIRCRAFT AFTER THE LEFT ENGINE STOPPED PRODUCING POWER FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA89FA096
- Event ID
- 20001213X27932
- Case number
- MIA89FA096
- 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: 0a5573e69592cdfdb855553095863e24ec19a9df6cc24d9f3ae432d39a982c9f; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:13:52.907Z.