DFW05CA060 · Sabreliner Corp. 40
Sabreliner Corp. 40 · Accident: loss of control on ground/water while taxiing
From San Antonio International Airport (SAT) to Toluca
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's aircraft involved. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- DFW05CA060
- 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
Sabreliner Corp. 40 Possible conflict
- Aircraft type
- Sabreliner 40
- 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
- XB-JGI
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From San Antonio International Airport (SAT), San Antonio, TXTo Toluca
- 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
- Taxi
- 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 control on ground/water
- 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
- Company maintenance personnel › Maintenance, service of aircraft/equipment, improper
- Fluid, hydraulic › Failure
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
In a written statement, the 5,000-hour commercial pilot reported that after starting the right engine and completing a pre-taxi checklist on the ramp, he noted that all of the indications given by the instruments were normal. He was then cleared to taxi, so he turned the steering control on and advanced the power. The airplane moved straight ahead, and the pilot attempted to make a left turn. It was at this time that he realized his inputs to steer were ineffective. The airplane continued straight ahead. The pilot attempted to stop the airplane by applying pressure to the brakes and then the emergency brake, but these actions were ineffective as well. The airplane continued forward and passed between two aircraft that were parked on the ramp, striking the airplane on its left with the left wing tip. The pilots then shut down the right engine, and the airplane continued in its forward momentum until it finally came to a halt. Examination of the airplane by an FAA inspector revealed that the hydraulic fluid reservoir was empty, and the cockpit hydraulic pressure gauges indicated 2,000 pounds per square inch (psi). The thrust reversers on the airplane had undergone maintenance prior to the accident at their home base. The maintenance manual for the airplane states, "An operational test of the hydraulic power system must be performed if a unit has been replaced, if adjustments have been made to any unit, or if hydraulic lines have been disconnected. The test must be thorough enough to ensure that the system is free of hydraulic leaks and that no malfunction could occur because of improper maintenance." The manual goes on to state, "Because of allowable indication error in the hydraulic pressure indicating system, the pressure on the gauge may not be the actual system pressure. For this reason, the indication error of the hydraulic pressure gauge and pressure transmitter should be known, if these instruments are used to determine the serviceability of hydraulic units." A representative of the DGAC of Mexico examined the airplane on February 21, 2005, and found air in the hydraulic system. Hydraulic fluid was added to the system, and an operational check of the airplane's two separate hydraulic pumps was performed, which revealed no anomalies.
Probable cause
The failure of the aircraft hydraulic system as result of improper maintenance by company maintenance personnel.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DFW05CA060
- Event ID
- 20050307X00277
- Case number
- DFW05CA060
- 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: 8de5bf2faab9e8e2804ef9bfe202259e651e83be3aaeb8df2736e9f294b95316; retrieved 2026-09-22T06:20:00.474Z.