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MKC87FA163 · Beech 35

17 Aug 1987 · EXCELSIOR SPGS, MO, United States

Beech 35 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route

From Hawk Air Airport (MO10) to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
MKC87FA163
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

Beech 35

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 35
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
N3204V
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Hawk Air Airport (MO10), Liberty, MOTo not recorded
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 · 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
Total loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
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, oil › Exhaustion
  • Lubricating system, oil quickdrain/drain plug › Not secured
  • Other person › Maintenance, service of aircraft/equipment, improper
  • Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, not performed
  • Pilot in command › Airspeed, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Directional control, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Go-around, improper

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

ACCORDING TO WITNESSES, THE PILOT DECLARED AN EMERGENCY OVER THE RADIO STATING THAT THE ENG WAS LOSING POWER AND THAT SHE WAS ATTEMPTING AN EMERG LNDG AT EXCELSIOR SPRINGS ARPT. THE PILOT STATED THAT SHE INITIATED A GO-AROUND, AFTER THE RWY WAS ASSURED, DUE TO THE INCURSION OF ANOTHER ACFT BACKTRACKING ON THE RWY, DIRECTLY IN HER PATH. OTHER WITNESSES STATED THAT THE ACFT, EITHER BOUNCED OFF THE RWY SURFACE, OR ATTEMPTED A LOW PASS AT A SLOW AIRSPEED. IT THEN VEERED LEFT FROM OVER THE RWY, DRAGGING THE LEFT WING TIP OVER HIGH VEGETATION; THE ACFT THEN IMPACTED THE CULTIVATED SOIL, CARTWHEEL FASHION. EVIDENCE WAS FOUND TO SUGGEST A POWERPLANT FAILURE DUE TO OIL STARVATION. THE ENGINE SUMP SHOWED THAT THE OIL QUICK-DRAIN FITTING WAS LOCKED IN THE OPEN POSITION. THE ENG HAD UNDERGONE AN OIL CHANGE JUST PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT FLIGHT. AN ENG TEARDOWN AT THE MANUFACTURER'S FACILITIES REVEALED THAT A CATASTROPHIC FAILURE HAD OCCURRED DUE TO A LACK OF INTERNAL ENG COMPONENT LUBRICATION.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MKC87FA163
Event ID
20001213X31882
Case number
MKC87FA163
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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1987-08-18.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: f8e49154ac0724b2a2116cbe654f9aaaf2e77bfc465c33618a894542a050b739; retrieved 2026-09-21T16:21:17.118Z.