SEA87IA084 · Smith, Ted Aerostar AEROSTAR 601P AEROSTAR 6
Sierra Telephone Smith, Ted Aerostar AEROSTAR 601P AEROSTAR 6 · Incident: airframe, component or system failure en route
From Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) to Fresno, CA
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA87IA084
- 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
- Incident
- 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
Smith, Ted Aerostar AEROSTAR 601P AEROSTAR 6
- Aircraft type
- Smith Ted Aerostar AEROSTAR 601
- 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
- N90518
- Operator
- Sierra Telephone
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), Las Vegas, NVTo Fresno, CA
- 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
- Minor
Cause areas
- Engine assembly, other › Fire
- Exhaust system › Leak
- Exhaust system, clamp › Loose
- Fluid, oil › Leak
- Lubricating system, oil line › Failure, partial
- Lubricating system, oil line › Overtemperature
- Maintenance, modification › Inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
APRX 422 FLT HRS BFR THE FLT, THE SMITH AEROSTAR 601P WAS MODIFIED IAW MACHEN STC SA980NW. DRG LEVEL OFF AT 16,500' MSL,BLISTERING & DISCOLORATION WERE NOTED ON THE #1 ENG NACELLE. THE PLT SHUT DOWN & FEATHERED THE #1 ENG, THEN RETURNED TO THE DEPARTURE ARPT & LANDED WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT. AFTER LNDG, AN EXAM REVEALED AN IN-FLT FIRE HAD OCCURRED, WHICH RESULTED IN MINOR DMG OF THE ENG ACCESSORY SECTION. TWO EXHAUST CLAMPS WERE FOUND LOOSE AT THE EXHAUST STACK WASTE GATE CONNECTION. HOT GASES FROM THE LOOSE CONNECTION HAD ESCAPED & IMPINGED ON THE TURBOCHARGER OIL SUPPLY HOSE (MACHEN PN CAA04S160). THE HOSE WAS WIRE REINFORCED & FIRE SLEEVED, BUT WAS LOCATED CLOSE TO THE EXHAUST STACK. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THAT IT HAD RUPTURED FROM PROLONGED EXPOSURE TO HEAT. ESCAPING OIL FROM THE HOSE CAME IN CONTACT WITH THE HOT EXHAUST STACK & TURBOCHARGER, WHICH RESULTED IN A FIRE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA87IA084
- Event ID
- 20001213X30819
- Case number
- SEA87IA084
- 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: cc1eef80d246b977a61764f92d3c9a21c112ea0e53656dc504881341a3a1ce7b; retrieved 2026-09-23T13:18:58.800Z.