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Atlas / NTSB / FTW85FQG02

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW85FQG02

1985-08-23 BIG SPRING, Texas, United States Airport · 21XS None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE ACFT COCKPIT/CABIN FILLED WITH SMOKE AFTER TAKEOFF. THE PLT & PASSG SMELLED AN ODOR OF ELECTRICAL WIRING BURNING AND SAW FIRE AT THE FIREWALL NEAR THE RUDDER PEDALS. THE ACFT WAS TURNED 180 DEGREES AND LANDED ON RWY 35. THE 2 OCCUPANTS IMMEDIATELY EGRESSED. INVESTIGATION SHOWED THAT THE ENG LEFT EXHAUST STACK, PN 63726-O2, WHICH SHOULD BE INSERTED INTO THE MUFFLER ASSEM, PN 66704-00 AND SECURED WITH CLAMP ASSEM, PN 65442-03 WAS DISPLACED AWAY FROM THE END OF THE MUFFLER ALLOWING HOT GASES TO BE DIRECTED ONTO THE FIREWALL IN THE AREA OF THE STARTER SOLENOID AND BRAKE RESERVOIR. THE SECURING CLAMP ASSEM WAS PRESENT ON THE MUFFLER WITH THE NUT INSTALLED AND CLAMP FLUSH WITH THE OUTSIDE DIAMETER OF THE MUFFLER EXTENSION. THE LOCATER PIN WAS EXTENDING THRU THE MUFFLER EXTENSION. THE EXHAUST STACK HAD THE LOCATOR HOLD AND INSPECTION DID NOT SHOW THAT THE PIN WAS WORN OR SHEARED TO ALLOW DISENGAGEMENT. FIRE DAMAGED THE ACFT FROM THE FIREWALL TO THE BAGGAGE/REAR AERA. FLUID FROM THE MELTED BRAKE RESERVOIR APPEARED TO ADD TO THE FIRE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1985_FTW85FQG02.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗