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FTW82FPM17 · Cessna 421B

24 Sept 1982 · Afton, OK, United States

Ford Motor Credit Cessna 421B · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach

From Alton, IL to Yukon, OK

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Event

NTSB case
FTW82FPM17
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
1 · 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 421B

Aircraft type
Cessna 421
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
N8019Q
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Alton, ILTo Yukon, OK
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
Approach
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; Stall
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 › Starvation
  • Pilot in command › Airspeed(vmc), not maintained
  • Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
  • Pilot in command › Precautionary landing, delayed
  • Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent

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

NTSB narrative

AT ABOUT 1930 CDT, THE AIRCRAFT DEPARTED YUKON, OK ON A DIRECT FLIGHT TO ALTON, IL. IT LANDED AT ALTON AT ABOUT 2200 CDT, AND ABOUT 10 MINUTES LATER, IT DEPARTED ON A RETURN FLIGHT TO YUKON. BEFORE DEPARTING ALTON, THE PILOT STATED THAT HE WOULD REFUEL AT SPRINGFIELD, MO WHILE ON THE RETURN TRIP. HOWEVER, THERE WAS NO INDICATION THAT THE PLANE WAS REFUELED AT SPRINGFIELD. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE AIRCRAFT CRASHED NEAR AFTON, OK AT ABOUT 2350 CDT. A WITNESS STATED THAT HE HAD SEEN THE AIRCRAFT CIRCLING BACK AND FORTH ACROSS THE HIGHWAY AT LOW ALTITUDE, THEN IT WENT INTO A LEFT BANK AND NOSE DIVED INTO THE GROUND. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE AIRCRAFT IMPACTED IN A NEAR LEVEL ATTITUDE, BUT IN A STEEP ANGLE OF DESCENT. THE FUEL TANKS WERE FOUND TO BE EMPTY. THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF FUEL SPILLAGE ON THE GROUND, EXCEPT NEAR THE RIGHT TIP TANK. THE LEFT AND RIGHT FUEL SELECTORS WERE FOUNDPOSITIONED TO THE RIGHT MAIN TANK.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW82FPM17
Event ID
20020917X04630
Case number
FTW82FPM17
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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1982-09-25.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 3d44b9360fb7c9dd1aba10a1c2860f90b7dc71801ff219bc5d71661208076657; retrieved 2026-09-21T07:44:46.048Z.