ATL04CA106 · Beech BE-65 (LF-23F)
Beech BE-65 (LF-23F) · Accident: loss of engine power en route
From Gwinnett County Briscoe Field (LZU) to Barrow County Airport (WDR)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL04CA106
- 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 BE-65 (LF-23F)
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft BE-65
- 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
- N870KS
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Gwinnett County Briscoe Field (LZU), Lawrenceville, GATo Barrow County Airport (WDR), Winder, GA
- 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 · descent
- 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
- 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
- Pilot in command › Fuel management, improper
- Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, improper use of
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 reported that the airplane lost power in the right engine first, and the left engine lost power approximately thirty seconds later. Efforts by the pilot to restart the engines were unsuccessful. The airplane collided with the ground one mile southeast of Winder Barrow County Airport. Prior to the flight, the pilot reported that the airplane had intermediate magneto drops in power. Examination of the fuel tanks revealed that both inboard main fuel tanks were empty. Both auxiliary fuel tanks were approximately half full. Trace amounts of fuel were recovered from the left fuel line and no fuel was recovered from the right fuel line. During the examination of the airplane, no fuel leakage or fuel stains were observed on the airframe. Further examination of the airplane revealed the right fuel selector was in the main detent position, and the left fuel selector was observed 15 degrees away from the main detent position. Further examination of the engines revealed that both fuel sumps were damaged. External examination of both engines revealed full intake and exhaust valve action, internal component rotation was accomplished, and compression and suction in all cylinders were noted. Both fuel flow dividers were dry and free of debris when examined. The magnetos were checked for internal and engine timing; both engine magnetos were within prescribed limits. Also, both engine magnetos produced ignition sparks on all ignition leads when rotated.
Probable cause
The pilot's mismanagement of the fuel supply resulted in fuel starvation and a loss of power in both engines.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL04CA106
- Event ID
- 20040608X00745
- Case number
- ATL04CA106
- 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, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2004-05-04.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 22d2c1e944d7efcaa8e2a009e536d451c83a55cfb2ced23cd06c7d87235e8f48; retrieved 2026-09-21T09:17:45.919Z.