DFW08LA097 · Raytheon B200
Raytheon B200 · Accident: cabin safety event while standing
From Taylor Municipal Airport (T74) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- DFW08LA097
- 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
- 1
- 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
Raytheon B200
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 200
- 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
- N300FL
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Taylor Municipal Airport (T74), Taylor, 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
- Standing · engine(s) operating
- Defining eventThe 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
- Cabin safety event
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Minor
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
While performing a postmaintenance flight, the pilot heard a loud, high-pitched "screaming" sound emanating from behind the instrument panel. The pilot returned to the airport and radioed the mechanic regarding the loud sound. When the pilot brought the airplane to a stop, the sound diminished. With engines idling, the mechanic opened the door of the airplane to troubleshoot the malfunction. Cabin pressure existed when the mechanic attempted to open the entry door and the door "blew" outward. The door struck the mechanic's head. An examination of the airframe revealed that a vacuum line had separated from the vacuum controller at a T-fitting. The T-fitting was located in the area that the mechanic had worked in during installation of the vertical speed indicator. The disconnected line disabled the entire vacuum system and subsequently disabled the airplane's pressurization system outflow valve. Prior to the mechanic opening the door, the pilot reported turning the environmental controls off which stopped the in-flow of cabin pressure. However, because the vacuum system could not drive the safety valve open, the airplane remained pressurized. An examination of the door assembly and differential-pressure-sensitive diaphragm revealed no anomalies. Testing results conducted on the diaphragm were consistent with a new diaphragm. The door system met the certification requirements of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 23. The Beech 200 has no means of alerting outside personnel that the airplane is still pressurized while on the ground other than resistance against the release-button, nor is it required to by 14 CFR Part 23. The Pilot's Operating Handbook onboard the airplane had not been updated. A current version of the checklist would have directed the pilot to verify a zero pressure differential during the after-landing checklist.
Probable cause
The failure of the pilot and mechanic to ensure that the airplane was depressurized prior to actuating the door. Contributing to the accident was the failure of the vacuum system.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DFW08LA097
- Event ID
- 20080414X00469
- Case number
- DFW08LA097
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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. 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: c209c7c36782cc82f74be76d4d1286e13e4fce203bfa24bfe4db255ba5d96343; retrieved 2026-09-13T18:00:24.886Z.