DCA85AA023 · General Dynamics 240-27
General Dynamics 240-27 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb
From Trenton Mercer Airport (TTN) to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA85AA023
- 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
- 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
General Dynamics 240-27
- Aircraft type
- General Dynamics 240
- 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
- N155PA
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Trenton Mercer Airport (TTN), Trenton, NJTo Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), Detroit, MI
- 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
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Eng assembly, blower/impeller/integral supercharger › Failure, total
- Pilot in command › Throttle/power control, improper use of
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of West Trenton, NJ, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE COPLT BGN TAKEOFF (TKOF) WITH 2700 RPM & 52 TO 53.5' OF MANIFOLD PRESSURE (MP). WTR INJECTION WAS NOT USED ALTHO 12 GAL WAS AVAILABLE. AT 150 TO 250 FT AGL, THE L ENG LOST PWR & THE L PROP AUTOFEATHERED. THE CAPT TOOK CONTROL (CTL) & TOOK ACTION TO VERIFY L ENG FEATHERING. NEITHER PLT MOVED ANY OF THE OTHER ENG CTLS. A TURN WAS INITIATED TO RETURN TO THE ARPT, BUT THE ACFT BGN LOSING SPEED & ALT. SUBSEQUENTLY, IT CRASH LNDD IN A PARTLY WOODED AREA SHORT OF AN OPEN FLD & BURNED UNTIL FIRE FIGHTING PSNL ARRIVED. THE IMPELLER WAS DEMOLISHED BY FIRE, BUT EVIDENCE OF DEBRIS FROM THE IMPELLERWAS FND IN THE L ENG INTAKE & ON TOP OF ITS #3 & # 11 PISTON. THE COMPANY'S STATED POLICY WAS TO USE WTR (WET TKOF), EXCEPT WHEN PRECLUDED BY MECHANICAL MALFUNCTION OR LACK OF ADI FLUID; HOWEVER, 4 DISSIMILAR POWER CHARTS WERE FND IN THEACFT. TKOFF WT WAS 38,670 LBS. PERF MANUAL SHOWED ACFT CAPABLE OF 420 FPM CLB WITH 12 DEG OF FLAPS, 1 PROP FEATHERED, LNDG GEAR UP, DRY PWR (NO WTR). MAX PWR SETTING WAS 2700 RPM & 56' MP FOR DRY TKOF; 2800 RPM & 59.5' MP FOR WET TKOF.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DCA85AA023
- Event ID
- 20001214X36732
- Case number
- DCA85AA023
- 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: e2c9f78c05d6f02624a87976fc958c55402ed0fd88f144684e45efe3ebba32aa; retrieved 2026-09-18T20:21:01.442Z.