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NYC83FGM02 · Beech A-23

22 Apr 1983 · West Mifflin, PA, United States

Beech A-23 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb

From Allegheny County Airport (AGC) to Arnold Palmer Regional Airport (LBE)

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Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's injuries. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.

Event

NTSB case
NYC83FGM02
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

Beech A-23

Aircraft type
Beechcraft A-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
N1411L
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Allegheny County Airport (AGC), West Mifflin, PATo Arnold Palmer Regional Airport (LBE), Latrobe, PA
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
Initial climb
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)
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

  • Fuel system, selector/valve › Improper
  • Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, annual inspection, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Fuel supply, not corrected
  • Pilot in command › Refueling, not obtained

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

NTSB narrative

THE ACFT LOST POWER DURING TAKEOFF AND A FORCED LANDING WAS MADE FROM 400 FT AGL TO A SLAG DUMP ABOUT 1 MILE SOUTH OF THE AIRPORT. THE RIGHT WING WAS SUBSTANTIALLY DAMAGED BY THE INITIAL IMPACT AS THE ACFT WAS TURNING RIGHT AT TOUCHDOWN. THE NOSE GEAR SEPARATED AS DID THE LEFT MAIN GEAR. THE PILOT WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED. THE PASSENGER WAS NOT INJURED. DURING PREFLIGHT THE PILOT NOTED THE LEFT TANK WAS ALMOST EMPTY AND THE RIGHT TANK CONTAINED ABOUT 15 GALLONS OF FUEL. THE TANK SELECTOR INDICATED THAT RIGHT TANK WAS BEING USED. AFTER THE ACCIDENT IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT THE SELECTOR WAS INSTALLED 90 DEGREES OUT OF PHASE. WHEN IT INDICATED RIGHT TANK IT WAS ON LEFT TANK. THE SELECTOR WOULD HAVE TO BE POSITIONED TO OFF TO USE FUEL FROM THE RIGHT TANK. THE ACFT HAD BEEN FLOWN 3 TIMES SINCE THE ANNUAL INSPECTION ABOUT ONEHALF HOUR EACH TIME AND ALWAYS WITH SELECTOR ON THE RIGHT TANK POSITION. IF LEFT TANK POSITION HAD BEEN USED THE ENGINE WOULD HAVE QUIT AS THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN OFF.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC83FGM02
Event ID
20001214X42801
Case number
NYC83FGM02
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: 406e3ed78b882bf29a0e0399a435eded75a1683fafb2fed778c25302a6948c3b; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:58:09.682Z.