DEN06GA128 · Piper PA-23-250
Piper PA-23-250 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) while maneuvering
From Bartow Executive Airport (BOW) to Bartow Executive Airport (BOW)
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN06GA128
- 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
- Government
- 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
Piper PA-23-250
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-23
- 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
- N5941Y
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Bartow Executive Airport (BOW), Bartow, FLTo Bartow Executive Airport (BOW)
- 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
- Public Aircraft
- 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
- Stall
- 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
- Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not maintained
- 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 was being used for mosquito control and was carrying Scourge insecticide (Bayer), a mixture of resmethrin, piperonyl butoxide, and naphtalene. A witness said the airplane passed overhead at low altitude. He heard the engines "throttle back, then rev up and sputter." He said he could tell the right engine was sputtering because "the propeller was turning slowly." He saw the airplane pitch up, roll to the right, and descend into the ground. The airplane immediately caught fire. The on-scene investigation revealed one blade on the left propeller assembly was curled aft and the other blade was curled forward. One blade on the right propeller assembly was curled aft and the other blade was straight. Both engines later were disassembled and inspected. Crankshaft rotation produced camshaft, valve, and accessory drive continuity on both engines. No anomalies were noted with either engine's lubrication, induction, fuel injector, exhaust, and ignition systems. Examination of the spark plugs and cylinders revealed normal burn patterns and color. All cylinders produced compression except the right engine's number 6 cylinder. According to the manufacturer, its intake and exhaust valve springs had lost tension as a result of having been exposed to the fire. Both the left and right propeller governor controls were in the high rpm position.
Probable cause
A loss of power in the right engine while manuevering for reasons undetermined, and failure to maintain aircraft control which resulted in an inadvertent stall. Contributing factors were the airspeed below Vmc, and an altitude too low to afford a safe recovery..
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN06GA128
- Event ID
- 20060920X01368
- Case number
- DEN06GA128
- 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: 0862ea4239ec39aa04906e4653e5e343437825ee5792d35c89341a16da94ca49; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:34:09.030Z.