Viking Express Beech E18S accident
Beech E18S · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) to Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI86FA233
- 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
- 1 · 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
- N101VE
- Operator
- Viking Express
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW), Chicago, ILTo Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), Covington, KY
- 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
- 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
- Object › Residence
- Propeller system/accessories, feathering system › Incorrect
- Propeller system/accessories, feathering system › Movement restricted
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT HAD DEPARTED ON RNWY 13. HE WAS THEN DIRECTED TO CLIMB TO 6000 FT. THIRTY SECONDS LATER HE ADVISED HE HAD ENG TROUBLE AND WAS RETURNING TO THE ARPT. SHORTLY THEREAFTER HE ADVISED HE COULD NOT MAINTAIN ALT. THE ACFT, ONE MILE SE OF THE ARPT, STRUCK THE ROOFS OF TWO FAMILY TYPE RESIDENCES. THEN STRUCK TWO GARAGES, GROUND IMPACTED AND STRUCK THE REAR AREA OF A THIRD RESIDENCE. AN INTENSE FIRE FOLLOWED. LEFT ENG HAD IMPELLER FAILURE. PROP WAS PITCHED BETWEEN LOW AND HIGH RPM.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI86FA233
- Event ID
- 20001213X34734
- Case number
- CHI86FA233
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (5)
- 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 1986-09-29.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 2a34177d7ede6a3a922659a00a6d70264e702e26c6b42cf95e736738e7c7baeb; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:17:45.674Z.
- The NTSB's operator name is blank for N101VE; the operator shown is the name the NTSB's other records give its FAA operator code, CHRA.