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FTW84FU006 · Mitchell T-10R263

8 May 1984 · Horizon City, TX, United States

Mitchell T-10R263 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route

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Event

NTSB case
FTW84FU006
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
Visual Meteorological Cond

Mitchell T-10R263

Aircraft type
Mitchell T-10
Category
Ultralight
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
UNREG
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo not recorded
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 103: Ultralight
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 › In-flight planning/decision, poor
  • Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Refueling, not performed
  • Pilot in command › Stall, not corrected

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Horizon City, TX, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

THE ULTRALIGHT DEPARTED WEST TEXAS ARPT AT ABOUT 1700 MDT FOR A LOCAL INSTRUCTIONAL FLT WITH 2 PERSONS ON BOARD. IT WAS LAST SEEN FLYING AT ABOUT 1800 MDT A SHORT DISTANCE WEST OF THE ARPT. WHEN IT DID NOT RETURN AT 2100 MDT, THE ARPT MANAGER NOTIFIED THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND A SEARCH RESULTED IN THE U.S. BORDER PATROL FINDING THE ACFT WRECKAGE AT2245 MDT. THE VEHICLE HAD CRASHED NOSE FIRST IN THE DESERT ABOUT 1 MILE FROM THE ARPT. NO FUEL WAS FOUND ON THE ACFT ANDTHERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF LEAKAGE. THE ARPT MANAGER SAID THE VEHICLE WAS REFUELED A DAY BEFORE THE ACCIDENT FROM A 5 GALLON CAN. THE VEHICLE HAS A TOTAL ENDURANCE OF 3 HOURS AND 20 MINUTES WHEN FULL OF FUEL. THIS VEHICLE HAD BEEN FLOWN 3TIMES SINCE REFUELING, THE LAST FLT LASTED AN HOUR OR MORE. AT THE ACCIDENT SCENE, THE WOODEN PROPELLER WAS UNDAMAGED AND NO PROPELLER STRIKES WERE NOTED ON THE VEHICLE STRUCTURE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW84FU006
Event ID
20001214X39576
Case number
FTW84FU006
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 1984-05-09.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: db23e3c136c6ff64163c4817d6d4f091a4600fbc8191726541449061d2e5d9b4; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:32:44.514Z.