MIA86LA145 · Piper 601P
Piper 601P · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Ilopango International Airport (MSSS) to Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (OPF)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA86LA145
- 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 601P
- Aircraft type
- Piper 601
- 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
- N246G
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Ilopango International Airport (MSSS), San SalvadorTo Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (OPF), Miami, 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 · descent
- 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 exhaustion
- 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 › Fuel supply, exceeded
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, poor
- Pilot in command › Refueling, not performed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
NEARING COMPLETION OF AN INTERNATIONAL FLT OF NEARLY 5 HRS DURATION, THE FLT ADVISED ATC THEY WERE LOW ON FUEL & WOULD LIKE VECTORS TO THE NEAREST ARPT. THE FLT WAS UNABLE TO MAKE THE ARPT & A FORCED LDG WAS MADE IN THE EVERGLADES APRX 6 MI FROM THE ARPT. AN EXAM OF THE FUEL LINES TO THE ENG SERVOS REVEALED NO FUEL PRESENT. APRX 55 GALS OF 100LL FUEL, BLUE IN COLOR WAS FOUND IN THE ACFT FUEL TANKS. GREEN FUEL, 100/130 OCT WAS FOUND IN THE FUEL SUMP THE LOWEST POINT IN THE SYSTEM. FUEL DISTRIBUTORS IN SAN SALVADOR ADVISED THAT ONLY 100/130, GREEN FUEL, IS AVAILABLE THERE. A SECURITY GUARD REPORTED AN AIRBOAT WAS NEAR THE ACFT DURING THE NIGHT AFTER THE ACCIDENT. THE PLT DEPARTED WITH APPROX 209 GALS OF FUEL AND WOULD HAVE BEEN AT OR NEAR FUEL EXHAUSTION AFTER 5 FLT HRS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA86LA145
- Event ID
- 20001213X33619
- Case number
- MIA86LA145
- 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: 235914f97fdd18a8d6a5cae61fa1ca624c24f29cb015265b9d09bdcd9e64afbb; retrieved 2026-09-23T14:44:51.351Z.