FTW82DA261 · Cessna T310P
Cessna T310P · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From Dallas Executive Airport (RBD) to Dallas Executive Airport (RBD)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW82DA261
- 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
Cessna T310P
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 310
- 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
- N303TC
- Operator
- Donald V. Long · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Dallas Executive Airport (RBD), Dallas, TXTo Dallas Executive Airport (RBD), Dallas, TX
- 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
- Aircraft performance, two or more engines › Inoperative
- Fluid, fuel › Starvation
- Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, improper
- Pilot in command › Fuel system, improper use of
- Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, not corrected
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE AIRCRAFT OWNER, WHO HAD NOT FLOWN FOR ONE YEAR, AND A FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR WERE ON AN INSTRUCTIONAL FLIGHT TO PREPARE THE OWNER FOR A FLIGHT REVIEW. AFTER FLYING ABOUT ONE HOUR, THEY RETURNED TO THE AIRPORT AND BEGAN PRACTICING LANDINGS. AFTER THE SECOND LANDING (A TOUCH & GO), THE LEFT ENGINE LOST POWER SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, BUT TOO LATE TO ABORT AND LAND ON THE RUNWAY. A WITNESS SAW THE AIRCRAFT YAW AT ABOUT 150, BUT COULD NOT HEAR IT OVER OTHER NOISE. ACCORDING TO HIM, THE AIRCRAFT ENTERED A DESCENT WITH THE PROPELLERS STILL ROTATING. THE AIRCREW STATED THAT THE RIGHT ENGINE SEEMED TO LOSE POWER AS THE GLIDE BECAME STEEP. A WHEELS UP LANDING WAS MADE AFTER CROSSING OVER TREES. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT BOTH FUEL SELECTORS WERE POSITIONED TO THE AUXILLARY TANKS AND BOTH OF THESE TANKS WERE EMPTY. BOTH PILOTS STATED THAT NO ATTEMPT WAS MADE TO CHANGE THE FUEL SELECTOR POSITIONS AFTER THE LOSS OF POWER.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW82DA261
- Event ID
- 20020917X03338
- Case number
- FTW82DA261
- 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: d5e00f71ad3097a70f54c53f60c490050b729409f936c81f5c6f5bf07887acb5; retrieved 2026-09-22T03:00:18.359Z.