DFW05FA058 · Beech J-35
Beech J-35 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) while maneuvering
From Biggin Hill Airpark (TA67) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- DFW05FA058
- 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
- 2 · 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 J-35
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft J-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
- N399RH
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Biggin Hill Airpark (TA67), Shallowater, TXTo 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- 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 › Fuel tank selector position, improper
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A witness observed the airplane flying at an altitude of approximately 1,000 feet agl with its landing gear and flaps extended on a downwind leg to land at an adjacent airport. When it was abeam the north end of the runway, it began to descend below 500 feet agl in a northerly direction. The airplane then made a descending right turn toward a southerly heading. Subsequently, the witness observed the right wing impact the ground. Within seconds after the airplane came to rest, it was engulfed in flames. The right main fuel tank was ruptured and destroyed by fire. The right auxiliary tank contained residual fuel that was blue in color. The fuel cap was secure, and the finger strainer was free of debris. The left main fuel tank contained approximately 3/4-inch of blue fuel. The left auxiliary tank contained approximately two inches of blue fuel. The fuel cap was secure, and the finger strainer was free of debris. The fuel selector was found in the "auxiliary" fuel tanks position. The fuel screen in the fuel selector was clear of debris and installed with the cone upward. An engine examination was performed under the supervision of the NTSB at a nearby maintenance facility. The engine was rotated by hand at the crankshaft and valve train continuity and piston movement were verified on all six cylinders. No defects or anomalies were found with the engine that could have precluded normal engine operation. The fuel pump was removed and did not contain any fuel. The fuel screen was free of debris. A review of the before landing checklist in the airplane flight manual revealed that prior to landing, the fuel selector must be positioned to the "MAIN TANK MORE NEARLY FULL."
Probable cause
The pilot's improper positioning of the fuel tank selector, which resulted in fuel starvation and a subsequent loss of engine power while maneuvering.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DFW05FA058
- Event ID
- 20050125X00102
- Case number
- DFW05FA058
- 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 2005-01-21.
- API snapshot SHA-256: bfa39aa6850da2d78c2793fe298a441c951c4a6015bb9ece244eb17f702b8515; retrieved 2026-09-20T18:08:07.775Z.