NTSB CAROL · Event
Event FTW88FA035
Aircraft involved
Factual narrative
THE RIGHT ENGINE OF THE AIRCRAFT FAILED THREE TIMES IN FLIGHT. AFTER THE LAST FAILURE NEAR THE MIDDLE MARKER THE PILOT FEATHERED THE PROPELLER. THE AIRCRAFT COLLIDED WITH POWER LINES AND THE GROUND ABOUT 400 YARDS SHORT OF RUNWAY 31 AT THE REDBIRD AIRPORT. THE RIGHT FUEL SELECTOR WAS POSITIONED TO THE LEFT REAR TANK AND THE LEFT SELECTOR WAS POSITIONED TO THE OFF POSITION. THE LEFT WING TANKS WERE INTACT AND EMPTY. BOTH ENGINES HAD FAILED DUE TO FUEL EXHAUSTION. TWO AIRPORTS WERE OVERFLOWN THAT WERE ADEQUATE FOR LANDING AND THAT HAD FUEL AVAILABLE. THIS WAS THE CO-PILOT'S FIRST FLIGHT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1987_FTW88FA035.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
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Related research
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Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (fuel exhaustion). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- AOPA Air Safety Institute 2023 · Safety advisor
Safety Advisor: Fuel Awareness
AOPA Air Safety Institute safety advisor on preventing fuel-exhaustion and fuel-starvation accidents in general aviation. Covers pre-flight fuel planning, reserve requirements (14 CFR 91.151, 91.167),…
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Abstract
U.S. Civil Rotorcraft Accidents, 1963 through 1997
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recorded 8,436 rotorcraft accidents during the period mid - 1963 through the end of 1997.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Contractor Report (CR)
A study of carburetor/induction system icing in general aviation accidents
An assessment of the frequency and severity of carburetor/induction icing in general-aviation accidents was performed. The available literature and accident data from the National Transportation Safet…
- NASA NTRS 2018 · Other
Parachuting to Safety
NASA's Langley Research Center awarded Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc., three Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts to research and develop a new, low cost, lightweight recovery system …
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