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LAX84FA259 · Beech A23-24

17 Apr 1984 · BOWMAN, CA, United States

Beech A23-24 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route

From 011 · Fair Oaks, CA to Reno Tahoe International Airport (RNO)

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Event

NTSB case
LAX84FA259
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
1 · 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

Beech A23-24

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
N5676S
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From 011 · Fair Oaks, CATo Reno Tahoe International Airport (RNO), Reno, NV
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 starvation; Tree(s); Wire, transmission
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

  • Fluid, fuel › Starvation
  • Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Fuel supply, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Fuel system, improper use of
  • Pilot in command › Impairment(alcohol)
  • Pilot in command › Judgment, poor
  • Pilot in command › Supervision, inadequate

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

NTSB narrative

ON A FLT FROM FAIR OAKS, CA, TO RENO, NV, A FLT OF ABOUT 1 HR 15 MINS, THE ACFT EXPERIENCED A TOTAL POWER LOSS. THE PLT ASKED THE PAX TO SELECT THE OTHER FUEL TANK. THE SELCTOR HANDLE WAS NOT ATTACHED TO THE VALVE. BUT THE PAX LOCATED THE HANDLE AND TURNED THE VALVE. THIS ACTION DID NOT AID IN RESTARTING THE ENGINE. DURING A FORCED LANDING AT NIGHT, THE ACFT STRUCK A TREE, AN ELECTRIC CABLE, THEN IMPACTED THE GROUND. AN INVESTIGATION DISCLOSED THAT THE FUEL SELECTOR VALVE WAS IN THE 'OFF' POSITION. BEECH SERVICE INSTRUCTION NO 1095, WHICH PROVIDED FOR STOPS ON THE FUEL VALVE TO PRECLUDE INADVERTENT SELECTION OF THE OFF POSITION HAD NOT BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. THE ACFT HAD FLOWN 6 HRS PREVIOUSLY WITHOUT REFUELING. NORMAL ENDURANCE IS 6-1/2 HRS. ABOUT 6 GALS OF FUEL REMAINED IN THE RIGHT TANK. THE PLT, A FORMER ARMY AVIATOR, HELD NO FAA PLT RATINGS. A TOXICOLOGY TEST OF THE PLT'S BLOOD SHOWED AN ALCOHOL LEVEL OF 0.177%.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX84FA259
Event ID
20001214X39295
Case number
LAX84FA259
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: 5f032b524aebe9a75e3d460756861f19d91a4975f368b20f3e20f7a53fa8fb33; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:34:32.959Z.