FTW83LA345 · Cessna A185F
Cessna A185F · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during takeoff
From an unrecorded airport to Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport (AMA)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW83LA345
- 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
Cessna A185F
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 185
- 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
- N4959Q
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport (AMA), Amarillo, TX
- 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
- Takeoff · roll/run
- 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
- Partial 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 contamination
- 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
- Fluid, fuel › Contamination
- Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, continued
- Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, initiated
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN SUBMERGED IN WATER. AFTER IT WAS SALVAGED & REPAIRED, A FERRY PERMIT WAS OBTAINED TO FLY IT TO AMARILLO, TX. ACCORDING TO A WITNESS, THE ENG BEGAN RUNNING ROUGH AFTER THE 1ST 50 FT OF THE GROUND ROLL DURING TAKEOFF. HOWEVER. THE PLT CONTINUED TAKEOFF & USED ABOUT 3000 FT OF RWY TO GET AIRBORNE. HE THEN TURNED & FLEW BACK OVER THE ARPT AT ABOUT 500 FT WITH THE ENG STILL RUNNING ROUGH. THE PLT CIRCLED & FLEW OVER THE ARPT AGAIN WITH THE ENG STILL RUNNING ROUGH. AFTER THAT, THE ACFT DEPARTED THE TRAFFIC AREA AS IF THE PLT WAS GOING TO CONTINUE THE FLT TO AMARILLO. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, THE ENG LOST POWER & THE ACFT WAS DAMAGED DURING A FORCED LANDING. THE PLT STATED THAT THE ENG LOST POWER DUE TO FUEL CONTAMINATION & THAT HE SHOULD NOT HAVE USED ALCOHOL IN A FUEL INJECTED ENG.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW83LA345
- Event ID
- 20001214X43759
- Case number
- FTW83LA345
- 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: 4196e68de60f85e5d92ed4e66aa4e3d32f2eefa75b3789a2c6fcd2dc97b47087; retrieved 2026-09-22T02:34:31.079Z.