CHI04LA227 · Beech V35B
Beech V35B · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Anderson Municipal Darlington Field (AID) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI04LA227
- 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 V35B
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 35
- 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
- N6411S
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Anderson Municipal Darlington Field (AID), Anderson, INTo not recorded
- 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 · VFR pattern downwind
- 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
- 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 airplane sustained substantial damage on impact with trees and terrain during a forced landing following an in-flight loss of engine power while on downwind. The pilot's accident report stated, "The plane had been out of service for 3 weeks for it's normal annual inspection. Over the past few weeks I had had several conversations regarding the maintenance necessary since a cylinder (#2) had to be replaced. The mechanic ... had reported oil leaks and difficulty resolving them. I was told the aircraft had been signed-off and released to fly that morning (8/15). And that it had been adequately tested. ... Run-up was normal and temps (cylinder & head) were okay. ... Take-off was normal and the plane was making full power. I climbed to pattern attitude while turning left downwind. When I reduced power about mid-field, the engine ran fine at first but then began missing. I checked the mixture setting and confirmed full rich. I then applied more power and the engine responded but quickly sputtered. I noticed cylinder temps were high and switched fuel tanks. During this process, I alerted the tower I was having an engine problem and he cleared me for a landing on Runway 12. I had already initiated a turn to the field and lowered the gear. The engine was turning, but not making power. Continuing emergency procedures, I held the aircraft level and made best gliding speed. Gear was down but flaps were not extended. I saw that I was not going to make the field and notified the tower. I flew into the tops of a clump of trees on the north side of [Indiana State Road] 32 and the plane spun (rotated) to the left and settled into a spot next to the road and a bridge." The engine was shipped to its manufacturer and was test run. The engine produced rated power. The airplane's flight manual, in part, stated, "The most probable cause of engine failure would be loss of fuel flow or improper functioning of the ignition system."
Probable cause
The in-flight loss of engine power during downwind for undetermined reasons. A factor was the tree the airplane impacted during the forced landing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI04LA227
- Event ID
- 20040817X01233
- Case number
- CHI04LA227
- 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: bdf41a806815e96315bccf44b0a1deab448714ea0807f90674b7a8967263765f; retrieved 2026-09-21T19:10:00.345Z.