MIA02LA126 · Rockwell International 112TC
Rockwell International 112TC · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Leonard M. Thompson International Airport (MYAM) to Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR)
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's location. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA02LA126
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Rockwell International 112TC
- Aircraft type
- Rockwell 112
- 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
- N4561W
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Leonard M. Thompson International Airport (MYAM), Marsh HarborTo Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR), Fort Pierce, 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
- 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
- Pilot in command › Planning/decision, improper
- Pilot in command › Refueling, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot stated that he had 55 gallons of fuel on the airplane, when he departed Spruce Creek Airport. He said he determined the fuel quantity based on the fuel level with respect to the metal tab in the tank, and that he flew the airplane to Daytona Beach International Airport, where he loaded passengers and baggage, and then flew to Marsh Harbour, Bahamas. The pilot further stated that the flight was longer than planned because a waypoint had not been entered in the GPS unit, and he flew past Marsh Harbour, and as a result, when he landed, he refueled in Marsh Harbour, putting 10 gallons of fuel in the fuel tank. According to the pilot, he operated the airplane at about 65 % power with the rpms between 2350 and 2400, the manifold pressure at 32 inches of Hg, and that the winds were minimal for both the flight to, and the flight from Marsh Harbour. He said that about 10 to 12 miles from the shore, while on the return flight from Marsh Harbour the engine ceased operating and he ditched the airplane in the Atlantic Ocean. The owner said that the airplane had 50 gallons of fuel on board when it departed Spruce Creek Airport, and that the pilot's fuel consumption calculations were erroneous, with fuel consumption for the airplane at best economy cruise and best power being about 13.5 gals/hour, and 14.5 gals/hr respectively. The owner further stated that the pilot did not anticipate the additional 23% fuel that he needed to complete the flight. Information obtained from FAA Miami Air Traffic Control showed that at 1434:21, a communications transmission was made to ATC during which the person stated, "We are out of fuel."
Probable cause
The pilot's improper planning/decision and insufficient refueling which resulted in the loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion and the aircraft being ditched in the ocean.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA02LA126
- Event ID
- 20020711X01092
- Case number
- MIA02LA126
- 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: fec59659d17897037c1aa5d6267abd5bec225fae856c1c4d0803b5078b706091; retrieved 2026-09-22T10:46:20.701Z.