CHI84FA112 · Beech A23A
Beech A23A · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Ozark-Blackwell Field (71J) to Gary/Chicago International Airport (GYY)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI84FA112
- 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
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Beech A23A
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 23
- 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
- N3639Q
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Ozark-Blackwell Field (71J), Ozark, ALTo Gary/Chicago International Airport (GYY), Gary, 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 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
- 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 exhaustion; Stall
- 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
- Pilot in command › Airspeed, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Fuel supply, inadequate
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
- Pilot in command › Performance data, not understood
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Refueling, not attained
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Oaktown, IN, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
ACFT STALLED & CRASHED AFTER A PWR LOSS DURING NIGHT X-COUNTRY FLT. PLT RADIOED A 'MAYDAY' CALL AFTER REPORTING 3 MINS EARLIER HE HAD 30-45 MINS OF FUEL REMAINING. INDIANAPOLIS ARTCC WAS GIVING FLT ASSISTANCE TO N3639Q & ADVISED THE FLT OFAN ARPT AT 'YOUR TWO O'CLOCK POSITION AND 3 MILES.' THIS OCCURRED AFTER SOME DISCUSSION, WHICH STARTED AT 0522:45, ABOUTTHE FLTS LOW FUEL STATE AND FUEL REMAINING VS DISTANCE TO EVANSVILLE. HUF SECTOR ADVISED AT 0530:51, 'THERE ARE SEVERAL,UH, SMALLER ARPTS ALONG THE WAY THERE IF YOU, UH, NEED TO GO DOWN, LET US KNOW.' PLT MADE NO DECISION AT THIS TIME. AT 0535:38, PLT WAS AGAIN QUESTIONED ABOUT FUEL AND ADVISED THAT HIS ESTIMATE OF FUEL REMAINING WAS CAUTIONARY FOR THE REMAINING DISTANCE TO DESTINATION. PLT CONFIRMED THAT ENOUGH FUEL REMAINED. AT 0538:35, PLT TRANSMITTED, '39QUEBEC OUT OF GAS. GOING DOWN AT THIS TIME.' THE PLT CONTINUED TO COMMUNICATE BY RADIO AND WAS VECTORED TOWARD AN ARPT. APRX 1 MIN AFTER THE ARPT WAS SIGHTED, RADIO CONTACT WAS LOST.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI84FA112
- Event ID
- 20001214X38719
- Case number
- CHI84FA112
- 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: 13b05a7234b77244ef779c1b0fb6d376e637847cc40cec2750e9ee524a01ef8a; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:39:20.597Z.