FTW87FA175 · Cessna 337B
Cessna 337B · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From an unrecorded airport to HANKAMER, TX
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW87FA175
- 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
Cessna 337B
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 337
- 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
- N2315S
- Operator
- Vernon R.Duke
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo HANKAMER, TX
- 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/mush
- 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
- Fluid, fuel › Contamination
- Fuel system, line › Blocked(partial)
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE AIRCRAFT HAD BEEN SITTING OUTSIDE IN THE WX SINCE ITS LAST ANNUAL INSPECTION ON 12/1/84. AFTER PURCHASING THE AIRCRAFT, THE PILOT (WHO IS AN AIRCRAFT AND POWERPLANT MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN) EXAMINED IT AND A FERRY PERMIT WAS ISSUED BY FAA FOR THE PROPOSED FERRY FLIGHT TO THE PILOT'S HOME BASE. UNKNOWN TO THE PILOT THE MAIN FUEL LINE TO THE REAR ENGINE WAS PARTIALLY BLOCKED BY A FOREIGN MATERIAL. THIS BLOCKAGE ALLOWED ADQUATE FUEL FLOW FOR A SUSTAINED STATIC OPERATION AT 1000-1500 RPM AND A BRIEF BURST OF POWER AT FULL THROTTLE. HOWEVER, IT WAS INADEQUATE FOR A SUSTAINED HIGH POWER SETTING AND AS A RESULT DURING THE INITIAL CLIMB THE REAR ENGINE POWER REDUCED TO A LEVEL OF 1200-1500 RPM. THE PILOT WAS UNABLE TO MAINTAIN FLIGHT AND HEADED FOR THE NEAREST AVAILABLE LANDING SITE. HE LOST FLYING SPEED WHILE PULLING UP TO AVOID TREES AT THE EDGE OF THE SITE AND HE ACFT THEN MUSHED TO A TOUCHDOWN WITH A RESULTANT HARD LANDING.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW87FA175
- Event ID
- 20001213X31512
- Case number
- FTW87FA175
- 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: 4502a4c306b7e07ab72b6601e77741aae84bb1e77954fbf38da55bef735a285f; retrieved 2026-09-23T12:44:31.814Z.