SEA88IA017 · Beech E18S
Beech E18S · Incident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Reno Tahoe International Airport (RNO) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA88IA017
- 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
- 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
Beech E18S
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 18
- 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
- N25SM
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Reno Tahoe International Airport (RNO), Reno, NVTo San Francisco International Airport (SFO), San Francisco, 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 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
- 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
- Partial 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
- Minor
Cause areas
- Fluid, oil › Leak
- Lubricating system › Failure, partial
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, installation, improper
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Reno, NV, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, AND AFTER THE LANDING GEAR WAS RAISED, THE PILOT NOTICED AN OVER-TEMPERATURE OF THE RIGHT ENGINE. A POWER REDUCTION WAS MADE AND AFTERWARDS SYMPTOMS OF A COMPRESSOR STALL OCCURRED. THE PILOT THEN SHUT DOWN THE RIGHT ENGINE. A 180 DEGREE TURN WAS MADE. DURING THE TURN THE COCKPIT FILLED WITH SMOKE WITH FLAMES VISIBLE COMING FROM THE RIGHT ENGINE AREA. THE RIGHT FIRE BOTTLE WAS DISCHARGED BUT THE FIRE CONTINUED. WHEN THE LANDING GEAR WAS LOWERED THE FIRE EXTINGUISHED ITSELF. IT WAS FOUND THAT THE SNAP RING TO THE RIGHT ENGINE OIL TEMPERATURE RELIEF VALVE WAS MISSING. THE RIGHT ENGINE OIL TEMPERATURE RELIEF VALVE WAS FOUND ON THE FLOOR OF THE ENGINE NACELLE. THE RT ENGINE HAD BEEN REPLACED 1.8 HOURS PRIOR TO THIS FLT DUE TO FOD. ENGINE OIL HAD ESCAPED AFTER THE RELIEF VALVE SEPARATED. OIL HAD ACCUMULATED IN THE WHEEL WELL, WING AND ENG NACELLE. THE OIL WAS IGNITED, FEEDING THE INFLIGHT FIRE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA88IA017
- Event ID
- 20001213X32634
- Case number
- SEA88IA017
- 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 1987-11-12.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 2b93068b65628e9108d5c2a69520bc1a99cf8987eb254dd0d095846178c6cc28; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:35:29.039Z.