MIA86FA103 · Piper PA-23-250
Piper PA-23-250 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB) to Indiantown Airport (X58)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA86FA103
- 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
Piper PA-23-250
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-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
- N77TS
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB), Sanford, FLTo Indiantown Airport (X58), Indiantown, FL
- 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
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, improper
- Pilot in command › Impairment(alcohol)
- Pilot in command › Judgment, poor
- Pilot in command › Proper altitude, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
BEFORE THE FLT, THE PLT & PAX WERE OBSERVED DRINKING ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES ON THE WAY TO THE ARPT. AFTER MUCH DIFFICULTY TAXIING TO THE RWY, THE FLT WAS CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF AFTER ENTERING THE ACTIVE RWY WITHOUT CLEARANCE. AFTER TAKING OFF, THE ACFT WAS SEEN DEPARTING WITH THE GEAR STILL EXTENDED. SHORTLY AFTER DEPARTING, WITNESSES SAW THE ACFT NEAR A LAKE FLYING ERRATIC WITH THE RGT ENG SPUTTERING. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT DIPPED DOWN TOWARD THE WATER & MADE A RGT TURN. AT ABOUT THAT TIME, THE RGT WING CONTACTED THE WATER & THE ACFT CARTWHEELED & CRASHED. AN EXAM OF THE RGT ENG REVEALED THATTHE FUEL INJECTOR LINE TO THE #6 CYLINDER HAD FAILED UNDER A RUBBER GROMMET DUE TO FATIGUE. ALSO, THE FUEL SELECTORS WERE FOUND POSITIONED SO THAT BOTH ENGS WOULD FEED FROM THE LEFT OUTBOARD TANK, A CONDITION THAT WAS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR TAKEOFF. ADDITIONALLY, THE RGT PROP HAD NOT BEEN FEATHERED. TOXICOLOGY TESTS SHOWED THE PLT HAD A BLOOD/ALCOHOL LVL OF 289 MG/DL (0.289%) & THE PAX HAD 146 MG/DL (0.146%).
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA86FA103
- Event ID
- 20001213X33123
- Case number
- MIA86FA103
- 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: 00edabcf286cbf595c81b48964f6dbf17330e508e71871b5a151d29b22d63721; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:01:53.541Z.