MIA87FA189 · Beech 23
Beech 23 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From North Perry Airport (HWO) to Savannah Hilton Head International Airport (SAV)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA87FA189
- 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
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Beech 23
- 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
- N2387J
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From North Perry Airport (HWO), Hollywood, FLTo Savannah Hilton Head International Airport (SAV), Savannah, GA
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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)
- 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 contamination; Stall
- 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 › Contamination
- Fluid, fuel › Water
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Airspeed, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
AFTER THE PLT LNDD, THE ACFT WAS SERVICED WITH 58.9 GAL OF FUEL. ITS FUEL CAPACITY WAS 60 GAL. SUBSEQUENTLY, WHEN THE PLT TOOK OFF, THE ACFT REMAINED ON THE RWY FOR ABOUT 2500' OF THE AVAILABLE 3000'. AFTER LIFT-OFF, THE ACFT ENTERED A RGT TURN & REACHED A RPRTD ALT OF ONLY ABOUT 100'. ONE WITNESS SAID THE ENG WAS NOT RUNNING AT FULL PWR & THAT DARK GRAY SMOKE WAS COMING FROM ITS EXHAUST. HE ALSO STATED THAT THE ACFT STALLED AS THE PLT WAS APPARENTLY ATTEMPTING TO TURN BACK. THE ACFT CRASHED ON THE ROOF OF AN UNOCCUPIED CHURCH SCHOOL. AN EXAM OF THE ACFT REVEALED BOTH FUEL TANKS WERE CONTAMINATED WITH WATER & SAND. WATER & SAND WERE ALSO FND IN THE FUEL FILTER & CARBURETOR FINGER STRAINER. BOTH FUEL CAPS WERE TESTED & FND TO LEAK WHEN WATER WAS APPLIED TO THE UPPER WING SURFACE. THE MANUFACTURER (BEECH) HAD ISSUED A CLASS I SVC BULLETIN (SB) FOR INSTALLATION OF IMPROVED FUEL TANK CAPS; HOWEVER, IMPROVED FUEL CAPS HAD NOT BEENINSTALLED. ALSO, CORROSION WAS EVIDENT IN THE WING SUMP & FUEL FILTER DRAINS, MAKING THE LATTER DIFFICULT TO OPERATE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA87FA189
- Event ID
- 20001213X31254
- Case number
- MIA87FA189
- 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: 9473a944aac6793d0ea3fba30789eb1293bf7a8a6bb0477e51759f2fd4235036; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:06:22.896Z.