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General aviation Gulfstream G-159 accident

31 May 1985 · Nashville, TN, United States

Gulfstream G-159 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb

From Nashville International Airport (BNA) to Indianapolis International Airport (IND)

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Event

NTSB case
ATL85MA177
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
2 · 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
Airline
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

Gulfstream G-159

Aircraft type
Gulfstream G-159
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
N181TG
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Nashville International Airport (BNA)To Indianapolis International Airport (IND), Indianapolis, IN
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 121: Air Carrier
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
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Checklist › Not followed
  • Copilot/second pilot › Remedial action, not attained
  • Fluid, fuel › Starvation
  • Pilot in command › Airspeed(vmc), not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, improper
  • Pilot in command › Powerplant controls, improper use of
  • Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Propeller feathering, not performed

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE ACFT WAS BEING OPERATED AS GENERAL AVIATION FLT 115 & WAS DEPTG ON A ROUTINE NIGHT FLT. DRG TAKEOFF/INITIAL CLIMB, THE LEFT ENG LOST PWR. THE FLT CREW ATTEMPTED TO CONT THE CLIMB-OUT, BUT FOLLOWING THE APPLICATION OF WATER-METHANOL, THE PLT LOST DRCTNL CONTROL. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT BANKED TO THE LEFT, ENTERED A DSCNT & IMPACTED BETWEEN THE PARALLEL RWYS. AN INVESTIGATION DISCLOSED THAT THE LEFT PROPELLER'S BLADE ANGLE WAS 21 DEGS. NO PREIMPACT SYS MALFUNCTION OR FAILURE WAS FOUND. THE COCKPIT VOICE RECORDING INDICATED THAT THE FLT CREW DID NOT COMPLETE ALL OF THE ITEMS ON THE BEFORE TAXI/TAKEOFF CHECKLIST. ONE OF THE ITEMS (PRESUMABLY NOT COMPLETED) WAS A CHECK OF THE H.P. COCK LEVERS. THE CHECKLIST REQUIRED THAT THE H.P. COCK LEVERS BE IN 'CRUISE LOCKOUT' FOR TAKEOFF. THE LEFT H.P. COCK LEVER WAS FOUND BETWEEN THE 'FUEL OFF' & 'FEATHER' POSITIONS. MOVEMENT TO THIS POSITION WOULD HAVE DEACTIVATED THE AUTO-FEATHER SYS & SHUT DOWN THE LEFT ENG.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL85MA177
Event ID
20001214X36375
Case number
ATL85MA177
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 1985-06-01.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 8677bf4dc242a1b52b123bdb36995529486a3e4859974b148491b1c4fa0971fa; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:25:48.354Z.