FTW85FA019 · Cessna 421C
Cessna 421C · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From an unrecorded airport to Naples Municipal Airport (APF)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW85FA019
- 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
Cessna 421C
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 421
- 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
- N121BT
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Naples Municipal Airport (APF), Naples, FL
- 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 · climb to 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 (mechanical failure)
- 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
- Utility pole
- 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 › Aircraft handling, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Airspeed(vmc), not maintained
- Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, improper
- Pilot in command › Gear extension, premature
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
APRX 7 MIN AFTER TAKEOFF (AT 1441), THE PLT DECLARED AN EMERGENCY & SAID THE L ENG HAD LOST POWER. HE FEATHERED THE ENG,DIVERTED BACK TWD THE ARPT & DSCNDD TO VFR CONDS BELOW THE CLDS. AT 1448, THE PLT SAID HE HAD THE ARPT IN SIGHT & TURNEDONTO A LEFT DOWNWIND FOR RWY 15. RPRTDLY, HE EXTENDED THE LNDG GEAR & BGN A LEFT TURN TWD THE RWY. RPRDLY, THE ACFT WAS TOO CLOSE IN &/OR THE PLT CHOSE TO MAKE A RGT TURN AWAY FM THE ARPT TO LAND. WITNESSES LOST SIGHT OF THE ACFT DRG THE TURN DUE TO LOW CLDS OR OBSTNS. THE PLT LOST SIGHT OF THE ARPT FOR A SHORT TIME, THEN RELOCATED IT, BUT SAID HE HAD HIS 'HANDS FULL.' SHORTLY THEREAFTER, THE ACFT ENTERED A STEEP DSCNT, HIT THE EDGE (ROOF) OF A BLDG, CRASHED INTO A UTILITYPOLE & THE GROUND & BURNED. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THE ACFT WAS INVERTED JUST BEFORE IMPACT. AN EXAM OF THE L ENG REVEALED EVIDENCE THE #6 CONNECTING ROD HAD FAILED FM OIL EXHAUSTION.ONLY 1 CUP OF OIL WAS FND IN THE ENG & IT HAD A HISTORY OF HI OIL CONSUMPTION.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW85FA019
- Event ID
- 20001214X41359
- Case number
- FTW85FA019
- 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: 91f5c01dee225f6007f0b0b0e73a09bb04f19414b9b067fe86400c1e9b40a307; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:17:17.749Z.