MIA08FA114 · Beech BE-58
Jim Hankins Air Service Beech BE-58 · Accident: explosion (non-impact) during takeoff
From Hawkins Field (HKS) to Pensacola International Airport (PNS)
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA08FA114
- 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
Beech BE-58
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft BE-58
- 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
- N3106W
- Operator
- Jim Hankins Air Service
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route Narrative disagrees
- From Hawkins Field (HKS), Jackson, MSTo Pensacola International Airport (PNS), Pennsicola, FL
- 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
- Takeoff · rejected takeoff
- 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
- Explosion (non-impact)
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft handling/service
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, not marked as estimated; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
According to the pilot, during the takeoff roll and while traveling at about 50 knots, he heard an "explosion" and could feel a thud in the rudder pedals. He immediately looked up and saw damage on the left wing with black smoke coming out of a hole in the wing. The pilot stopped the airplane, exited and put out the fire with an onboard fire extinguisher. Examination of the airplane found a thermally damaged hose (vent line), which contained a tight hose clamp and crimped end within the clamp. The separated hose was found lying below the siphon break-bent line interconnect. The position of the clamped and crimped end was consistent with the hose being clamped prior to the break-bent line, which would have allowed the partially connected hose to separate from the break-bent line. The separation of the hose from the break-bent line interconnect would have allowed fuel vapor to accumulate within the wing's open cavities. Additionally, the landing light power wire was separated and the exposed end of the wire exhibited melting, and there was evidence of arcing that existed along the base of the structure (lighting hole) and adjacent interior upper wing skin. This arcing was likely the ignition source for the trapped fuel vapor. The outboard leading edge fuel cell was removed during the investigation and checked for leaks. The fuel cell was pressurized and an air leak was found on the aft side of the fuel cap assembly, at the interior fuel placard mounting rivets. The fuel full placard and rivets were found to be loose when moved by hand. The loose mounting rivets would have also been a source of fuel vapor, which would have contributed to the fuel vapors trapped in the wing. The left wing fuel cells were replaced about 13 months prior to the accident and the airplane's most recent 100-hour inspection was performed about 3 months prior to the accident. For 100-hour inspections, the airplane's maintenance manual contained instructions to examine fuel cells, vent lines, and electrical wiring.
Probable cause
An outboard left wing explosion during takeoff due to the improper fuel cell installation and inadequate subsequent inspections by maintenance personnel.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA08FA114
- Event ID
- 20080613X00857
- Case number
- MIA08FA114
- 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, 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: a789a0a35639b943c5a8a4dff39e496617c7db27d2f2f44d033c027ada38027c; retrieved 2026-09-15T09:46:14.512Z.