MIA83FA180 · Piper PA-32R-300
Piper PA-32R-300 · Accident: loss of engine power en route
From Miami Executive Airport (TMB) to Florida Keys Marathon International Airport (MTH)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA83FA180
- 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
Piper PA-32R-300
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-32
- 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
- N6207J
- Operator
- Geoffrey M. Fickling · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Miami Executive Airport (TMB), Miami, FLTo Florida Keys Marathon International Airport (MTH), Marathon, 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 · 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
- Loss of engine power
- 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
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Islamorada, FL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT WAS DITCHED IN THE FLORIDA BAY AFTER THE ENGINE MALFUNCTIONED. ACCORDING TO THE PLT, THE ENG STARTED TO RUN ROUGH AND HE DITCHED THE ACFT AT ABOUT 0600 EDT. HOWEVER, THE ACFT CLOCK WAS STOPPED AT 0345 AND A COMMERCIAL FISHERMAN SAID HE SAW A LOW FLYING ACFT AT ABOUT 0400 HOURS GOING IN THE DIRECTION OF THE CRASH WITH NO LIGHTS ON. THE ACFT WAS FOUND IN ABOUT 4 FT OF WATER IN AN UPRIGHT POSITION WITH THE LANDING GEAR DOWN ABOUT 200 YARDS WEST OF THE CALUSA KEY. THE ACFT WAS EQUIPPED WITH AN UNAPPROVED CABIN FUEL TANK TRANSFER HOSE PLUMBED TO THE ACFT'S LEFT FUEL TANK. TWO OF THE ACFT SEATS HAD BEEN REMOVED. THE ACFT OWNERS ADDRESS ON THE REGISTRATION BELONGS TO A BUSINESS THAT RENTS MAIL BOXES TO PEOPLE WHO WISH TO REMAIN UNKNOWN. THE PLT SAID HE DID NOT KNOW THE PASSENGER; THE PASSENGER SAID HE HAD JUST MET THE PILOT. THE EXAMINATION OF THE ACFT REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA83FA180
- Event ID
- 20001214X43844
- Case number
- MIA83FA180
- 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: de0c8a3f7acb9fc5107ba9592bc97e38dde732d93bea66e5d203a09fe58dd4d8; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:52:59.105Z.