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DCA86AA017 · Cessna P210N

29 Jan 1986 · Keflavik, Iceland

Cessna P210N · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route

From Goose Bay Airport (CYYR) to Keflavik International Airport (BIKF)

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

Event

NTSB case
DCA86AA017
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
2 · 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 P210N

Aircraft type
Cessna 210
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
N4906K
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route Possible conflict
From Goose Bay Airport (CYYR), GOOSE BAYTo Keflavik International Airport (BIKF), Reykjavik
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
Total 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 exhaustion
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 › Exhaustion
  • Pilot in command › Flight into known adverse weather, initiated
  • Pilot in command › Fuel supply, inadequate

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Keflavík, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

AT 1146 GMT, N4906K DEPTD ON A 5 HR FLT TO NARSSARSSUAQ, GREENLAND WITH AN ESTD 7 HRS OF FUEL. WHEN THE PLT RPRTD 60 MI SW OF GREENLAND, THE DESTN VIS WAS BELOW IFR MIN & THE CEILING AT THE ALTN ARPT WAS BELOW THE MDA. THE PLT ELECTED TO CONT TO REYKJAVIK, ICELAND. LATER, AFTER HE EXTENDED HIS ETA TO REYKJAVIK BY MORE THAN 1 HR & INDICATED LOW FUEL, ICE- LAND OFFICIALS BGN SEARCH/RESCUE PROCEDURES. USAF & ICELAND ACFT & SHIPS WERE DISPATCHED BFR THE ACFT RAN OUT OF FUEL. AT 1811, FUEL EXHAUSTION OCCURRED AS THE PLT WAS DSCNDG FM 15,000'. A USAF C-130 CREW RENDEZVOUSED WITH N4906K, LIGHTED THE OCEAN WITH FLARES & GAVE DITCHING ADVISE. THE PLT DITCHED IN HI SEAS APRX 36 MI WEST OF KEFLAVIK, ICELAND IN WINDS GUSTING TO 35 KTS. A USAF HELICOPTER ARRIVED 3 MIN LATER, BUT THE OCCUPANTS WERE NEVER OBSVD TO EMERGE FM THE DOWNED ACFT. RESCUE PSNL LOST SIGHT OF THE ACFT AT 1834. AT THAT TIME, THE SUN WAS 6 DEG BLO THE HORIZON. THE ELT SIGNAL CEASEDSHORTLY THEREAFTER. THE OCCUPANTS WERE PRESUMED TO HAVE BEEN FATALLY INJURED WHEN THE ACFT DITCHED/SANK IN THE OCEAN.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record DCA86AA017
Event ID
20010110X00149
Case number
DCA86AA017
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 UTC date the NTSB stores; the local time zone is not recorded, so the local date may differ by a day.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 9876cc32b4cba8e60d37ea6bc826327405f082f13ab2bbda5ea05cc757058f76; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:41:15.732Z.