MIA83LA200 · Aerostar 600
Aerostar 600 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR) to Key West International Airport (EYW)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA83LA200
- 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
Aerostar 600
- Aircraft type
- Aerostar 600
- 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
- N7447S
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR), Fort Pierce, FLTo Key West International Airport (EYW), Key West, 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
- Partial 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
- Ignition system, ignition lead › Improper
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, modification, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT DEPARTED FT. PIERCE, FL ON A VFR FLIGHT TO KEY WEST, FL, AND DITCHED IN LAKE OKEECHOBEE. WHILE CLIMBING THROUGH5000 FT THE LEFT ENGINE LOST POWER AND STARTED SURGING, THE OIL TEMPERATURE GAUGE FAILED AND SMOKE CAME FROM UNDER THE INSTRUMENT PANEL. THE PLT REDUCED POWER ON THE LEFT ENGINE AND REQUESTED VECTORS TO THE NEAREST ARPT. HE THOUGHT THE ENGINE WAS PRODUCING POWER SO HE DID NOT FEATHER. WHEN HE REALIZED THE ARPT WOULD NOT BE MADE HE SET UP FOR A DITCHING IN THE LAKE. BEFORE TOUCHDOWN, POWER WAS CUT AND BOTH PROPS FEATHERED, BUT THE LEFT PROP DID NOT FEATHER. INSPECTION OF THE LEFT ENGINE AFTER ACFT RECOVERY SHOWED THE OIL TEMPERATURE AND IGNITION WIRES RAN IN A BUNDLE OF 5 WIRES INCORRECTLY ROUTED WITHIN A QUARTER INCH OF THE TURBOCHARGER EXHAUST WHICH BURNED THROUGH ALL WIRES AND GROUNDED OUT THE IGNITION. THE LEFT ENGINE DID NOT FEATHER DUE TO LOW RPM. ONE HR BEFORE THE ACCIDENT, THE NUMBER 1, 4, 5 AND 6 CYLINDERS WERE CHANGED, WHICH REQUIRED REMOVING THE ENG FROM THE ACFT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA83LA200
- Event ID
- 20001214X44255
- Case number
- MIA83LA200
- 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: 656eebb4c00081d60978896a9ec6f27b2ffe1cbb29f211593c2e0361cb85b2b0; retrieved 2026-09-23T21:35:16.061Z.