ATL82DA222 · Beech C23
Stevens Beechcraft Beech C23 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP) to Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL82DA222
- 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
Beech C23
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 23
- 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
- N1831F
- Operator
- Stevens Beechcraft
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP), Greer, SCTo Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP), Greer, SC
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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 starvation
- 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
- Fluid, fuel › Starvation
- Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE STUDENT PILOT HAD RECEIVED ABOUT THREE HOURS IN THIS MAKE AND MODEL OF AIRCRAFT. AFTER ABOUT 45 MINUTES OF DUAL INSTRUCTION, HE WAS INDORSED FOR SOLO FLIGHT, THE INSTRUCTOR DEPLANED, AND THE STUDENT TOOK OFF TO FLY LOCALLY. ABOUT 25 MINUTES LATER, THE STUDENT RETURNED FOR TOUCH-AND-GO LANDINGS. HE STATED THAT ON DOWNWIND, HE ELECTED TO CHANGE THE FUEL SELECTOR POSITION. HE SAID THAT HE REACHED DOWN, DEPRESSED THE SPRING CLIP, AND ROTATED THE FUEL SELECTOR HANDLE TO THE RIGHT. DURING THE GO-AROUND AFTER THE LANDING, THE ENGINE QUIT AT ABOUT 300 FT AGL. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE AIRCRAFT CRASHED DURING A FORCED LANDING IN AN AREA OF SCRUB PINE AND OAK. REPORTEDLY, THE PILOT HAD TURNED TO AVOID LARGER TREES DURING THE LANDING. THE FUEL SELECTOR WAS FOUND IN THE "OFF" POSITION (NEAR THE RIGHT TANK POSITION). ABOUT 15 GALLONS OF FUEL WAS REMAINING IN THE RIGHT FUEL TANK.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL82DA222
- Event ID
- 20020917X02798
- Case number
- ATL82DA222
- 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: fee991e2ad172ebfa086903404490fa8a2064ad383242338fceb7b06265bd0ff; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:09:48.261Z.