FTW85LA194 · Piper PA-31-350
Piper PA-31-350 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Tulsa International Airport (TUL) to Mobile Regional Airport (MOB)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW85LA194
- 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-31-350
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-31
- 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
- N3550N
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Tulsa International Airport (TUL), Tulsa, OKTo Mobile Regional Airport (MOB), Mobile, AL
- 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 · 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
- Engine assembly, cylinder › Overtemperature
- Engine assembly, piston › Overtemperature
- Pilot in command › Powerplant controls, improper use of
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
AN ANNUAL INSPN HAD JUST BEEN COMPLETED (4/22/85) & EACH ENG HAD ABOUT 1 HR OF FLT TIME. THE PLT STATED THAT HE TOOK OFF & CLIMBED TO CRUISE AT 9000 FT, THEN CLOSED THE COWL FLAPS & SET THE FUEL SETTINGS FOR 75% POWER. WHILE EN ROUTE, HE NOTED OIL TRAILING FROM THE L ENG OIL ACCESS DOOR, BUT THE L OIL PRESSURE WAS IN THE NORMAL RANGE. HE THROTTLED BACK THE LEFT ENG & REQUESTED VECTORS TO THE NEAREST ARPT. THE PLT RPRTD THAT WHILE DIVERTING, HE SAW FIRE COMING FROM THE AFT END OF THE R ENG COMPARTMENT. THE PLT SHUT DOWN THE R ENG, DECLARED AN EMERG & SUBSEQUENTLY MADE AN EMERG/GEAR UP LANDING IN A WET FIELD. DRG AN APCH OVER TREES TO LAND, HE HAD TO MANEUVER TO AVOID POWER LINES. TEARDOWNS OF BOTH ENGS REVEALED MELTING ON THE EDGE & TOP OF SVRL PISTONS. ONE ENG HAD MELTING IN THE HEAD OF 1 CYLINDER & ITS EXHAUST VLV SEATWAS DAMAGED. NO MAINTENANCE OR PRE-ACDNT DISCREPANCIES WERE FND THAT WOULD HAVE RESULTED IN PRE-IGNITION OR DETONATION. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THE RPRTD FIRE WAS ACTUALLY OIL BEING USED & IGNITED BY THE TURBO-CHARGERS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW85LA194
- Event ID
- 20001214X36194
- Case number
- FTW85LA194
- 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: 6ebf9fa5b329e0cb329989e00a60fb8c6a0718aef73abc563d4b69b7284af0dc; retrieved 2026-09-23T17:56:55.671Z.