ATL03LA040 · Beech A24R
Beech A24R · Accident: loss of engine power during takeoff
From Space Coast Regional Airport (TIX) to 78N · Reidsville, NC
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL03LA040
- 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
Beech A24R
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 24
- 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
- N9769L
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Space Coast Regional Airport (TIX), Titusville, FLTo 78N · Reidsville, NC
- 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
- Takeoff · roll/run
- 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
- Loss of engine power
- 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
- Wire, static; Tree(s)
- 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
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot advanced the throttle for takeoff until the throttle was completely in and at the hub. He initially noted the rpm showed 2,300, rpm and during the takeoff roll the rpm showed 2,500 rpm. The Pilot's Operating Handbook states that full throttle 2,700 rpm is required for takeoff. The throttle slipped back about 1/2 inch on two different occasions, and the pilot pushed the throttle back in. No increase in engine power was noted and he continued the takeoff roll. Once airborne, the pilot retracted the landing gear and continued applying full throttle. The throttle felt like it was sticking and the engine was not producing full power. The airplane reached about 75 to 100 feet, and was not climbing. The pilot realized he would not clear wires and trees to his immediate front and applied aft pressure on the control yoke to decrease his airspeed and the impending impact. Examination of the airplane wreckage revealed the throttle cable was hard to move and fractured. The throttle cable was removed, and forwarded to the NTSB Materials Laboratory. The examination revealed the fractures were typical of bending overstress while the cable was under a tension load. No determination was made for the loss of engine power.
Probable cause
The loss of engine power for undetermined reasons. The pilot's failure to attain full power for takeoff in accordance with the operation handbook was a factor.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL03LA040
- Event ID
- 20030204X00148
- Case number
- ATL03LA040
- 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, coordinates. 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: 3305e51be691e721585121ee8208441204d11683d370fbad157f2e5f6cbc4449; retrieved 2026-09-21T09:31:28.378Z.