MKC86LA015 · Mooney MK21
Mooney MK21 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM) to Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (FTW)
Event
- NTSB case
- MKC86LA015
- 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
Mooney MK21
- Aircraft type
- Mooney MK21
- 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
- N3399X
- Operator
- Earl L.Kirkpatrick
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM), Birmingham, ALTo Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (FTW), FORTH WORTH, TX
- 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, bearing › Failure, total
- Engine assembly, connecting rod › Failure, total
- Fluid, oil › Starvation
- Lubricating system › Failure, partial
- Pilot in command › Proper glidepath, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
AT CRUISE LEVEL FLT THE PLT RPTD A MALFUNCTIONING ENGINE. THE PLT WAS CLEARED TO DESCEND TO AN AIRPORT IN THE VICINITY. THE PRECAUTIONARY LANDING WAS INITIATED DUE TO AN OIL PRESSURE DECLINE. APPROACHING FOR THE LANDING THE PLT RPTD THE ENGINE COMPLETELY QUIT WHICH MADE A LANDINGAT THE AIRPORT IMPOSSIBLE. A TEARDOWN INSPECTION OF THE ENGINE REVEALED THAT THE NUMBER 1 CONNECTING ROD WAS BROKEN WITH SIGNS OF EXTREME OVER HEATING TO THE POINT OF MELTING AND PERFORMING THE CONNECTING ROD AND CAP. THE ROD BEARING WAS SEVERELY WORN TO A POINT OF BEING PAPER THIN. THE OIL JOURNAL WAS CLOGGED WITH METAL DEBRIS. THE LACK OF LUBRICATION WAS CONFINED TO THIS CYLINDER.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MKC86LA015
- Event ID
- 20001214X38115
- Case number
- MKC86LA015
- 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 1985-10-25.
- API snapshot SHA-256: a8f1fb7d7b97ebbd193d61f7168cd118143a4554cd9fcea6f0fc8dd8ca2a3db0; retrieved 2026-09-22T01:36:53.988Z.