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FTW85FA158 · Beech C24R

21 Mar 1985 · Galveston, TX, United States

Alvin Aero Club Beech C24R · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb

From William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
FTW85FA158
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
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 C24R

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 24
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
N2011M
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From William P. Hobby Airport (HOU), HOUYSTON, TXTo 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
Initial climb
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 (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 starvation
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

  • Company/operator management › Maintenance, inadequate
  • Dual student › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
  • Dual student › Lack of familiarity with aircraft
  • Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, improper
  • Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, performed
  • Pilot in command(cfi) › Aircraft preflight, inadequate

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Galveston, TX, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

AT THE TIME OF THE POWER LOSS THE ACFT WAS IN THE INITIAL CLIMB FOLLOWING A TOUCH AND GO LANDING. THE FLT DEPARTED FROM HOBBY AIRPORT, HOUSTON, TX, AT 2018 CST AND COMPLETED TWO IFR PRACTICE APCHS PRIOR TO THE TOUCH AND GO. INVESTIGATION REVEALED A FEW OUNCES OF FUEL DRAINABLE FROM THE RIGHT TANK AND APRX 12 GALLONS REMAINING IN THE LEFT TANK. THE ENGINE, FUEL INJECTOR ASS'Y AND FUEL FLOW DIVIDER WERE DISASSEMBLED AND/OR TESTED REVEALING NO MECHANICAL MALFUNCTIONS. REVIEW OF THE OPERATOR'S RECORDS INDICATE THAT THE FUEL QUANTITY GAGES HAD BEEN INOPERATIVE FOR APRX 3 MONTHS. THE ACFT WAS LAST FUELED ON O2-17-85 AND HAD FLOWN APRX 2/7 HOURS BEFORE THE ACCIDENT FLIGHT BEGAN. PRIOR TO RECOVERY OF THE WRECKAGE THE FUEL INJECTOR LINES WERE LOOSENED AND FOUND DRY. TOTAL USABLE FUEL CAPACITY WAS 57.2 GALLONS. EXACT FUEL QUANTITY AFTER FUELING ON 2-17-85 IS UNKNOWN.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW85FA158
Event ID
20001214X35903
Case number
FTW85FA158
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 1985-03-22.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: b4a4425f580f128dc859496c25196fab272e8f08596a659ef16d891899eb1f71; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:05:53.010Z.