ERA12WA142 · Cirrus Design Corp SR22
M & W Aviation Cirrus Design Corp SR22 · Accident: loss of engine power (total) en route
From Miami Executive Airport (TMB) to Toussaint Louverture International Airport (MTPP)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA12WA142
- 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
- Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
- 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
Cirrus Design Corp SR22
- Aircraft type
- Cirrus SR22
- 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
- N723EA
- Operator
- M & W Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Miami Executive Airport (TMB), Miami, FLTo Toussaint Louverture International Airport (MTPP), Port-au-Prince
- 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
- En route · cruise
- 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
- Loss of engine power (total)
- 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
No findings designated as a cause are recorded in the NTSB data yet.
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
On January 7, 2012, about 1324 eastern standard time, a Cirrus Design Corp. SR22, N723EA, registered to and operated by M&W Aviation LLC, descended into water near Andros Island, Bahamas, following deployment of the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS). Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and a visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan was filed for the 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 personal flight from Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport (TMB), Miami, Florida, to Toussaint Louverture International Airport (MTPP), Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The airplane sustained substantial damage and the certificated commercial pilot and one passenger were not injured. The flight originated from TMB about 1217.
The pilot stated that the day before the accident date, the airplane was test flown by another pilot following an annual inspection involving extensive maintenance. Additionally, the pilot reported that on the accident date prior to the accident flight, he test flew the airplane in the traffic pattern at TMB; no discrepancies were reported.
The flight departed TMB climbing uneventfully to 9,500 feet, and about 45 minutes into the flight, the oil pressure began to drop from mid 40 psi into the 30 psi range. He decided to divert to Andros Island, advised air traffic control of the situation, and later declared an emergency. He reported the oil pressure decreased to zero, and the engine, which had been running very smoothly, began to shake and then seized. The pilot trimmed for best glide speed, but after recognizing that he was unable to reach Andros Island, deployed the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) when the flight was at about 2,200 feet. The parachute deployed, and the airplane descended to the water hitting flat and firmly. Both occupants who were wearing inflatable life jackets evacuated the airplane, boarded a life raft, and were rescued.
The investigation is under the jurisdiction of the Government of the Bahamas. Any further information pertaining to this accident may be obtained from:
Manager of Flight Standards, Bahamas P.O. Box AP 59244 Nassau, N.P. Bahamas Phone: (242) 377-3445/3448 Facsimile: (242) 377-6060
This report is for information purposes only, and contains only information released by or obtained for the Bahamian Government.
Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA12WA142
- Event ID
- 20120110X04011
- Case number
- ERA12WA142
- 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.
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: bffad12100f3c18c51e7cc0bc41cc89a787860c7b8dcce88ae47f4af6ab369b6; retrieved 2026-09-15T17:03:20.349Z.