DFW05FA055 · Beech 95-B55
Beech 95-B55 · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb
From Harry P Williams Memorial Airport (PTN) to Houma Terrebonne Airport (HUM)
Event
- NTSB case
- DFW05FA055
- 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
- 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 95-B55
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 55
- 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
- N7912R
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Harry P Williams Memorial Airport (PTN), Patterson, LATo Houma Terrebonne Airport (HUM), Houma, LA
- 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
- 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
- Fuel starvation; 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
- Pilot in command › Airspeed, not obtained/maintained
- Pilot in command › Checklist, not followed
- Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, improper
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The 6,000-hour airline transport pilot was observed to make a steep climb followed by a shallow left turn during the initial climb after take off. The steepness of the bank progressed, and then the nose of the airplane dropped. Subsequently, the airplane began to spin before impacting a tree then terrain. Examination of the airplane revealed that the fuel selector handles were set to the auxiliary fuel tanks. A review of the Normal Procedures section of the airplane's Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) revealed that the fuel selectors must be set to the main tanks for take-off. Additionally, the FAA issued Airworthiness Directive (AD)-68-26-06 in 1974 "to prevent a power loss." It required this model airplane to have a placard installed on the pilot's instrument panel, which stated the following: "TAKE OFF AND LAND ON MAIN TANKS ONLY. TURNING TYPE TAKE OFFS OR TAKE OFFS IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING FAST TAXI TURNS PROHIBITED." A review of the POH also revealed that the best rate of climb speed with one engine inoperative (Vyse) was 100 knots and the minimum controllable airspeed (Vmc) was 78 knots. It also stated, "Two major factors govern one engine operations; airspeed and directional control. The airplane can be safely maneuvered or trimmed for normal hands-off operation and sustained in this configuration by the operative engine AS LONG AS SUFFICIENT AIRSPEED IS MAINTAINED...The most important aspect of engine failure is the necessity to maintain lateral and directional control. If airspeed is below 78 knots, reduce power on the operative engine as required to maintain control."
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to follow check-list procedures and the required placard instructions, which resulted in the fuel selectors being selected to the improper fuel tanks for take-off, resulting in a loss of engine power to the left engine. Also causal was the pilot's failure to maintain sufficient airspeed required to maintain control.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DFW05FA055
- Event ID
- 20050119X00074
- Case number
- DFW05FA055
- 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: 52c85c7eba7ce2c9fe9a6983c2a75bbde500091d19ee5e5d642e996f94724a46; retrieved 2026-09-20T18:08:46.925Z.