NTSB FTW90FA097 — 1990-04-20 · DALLAS, Texas, United States

N770X has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (LEARJET INC 60, built 2008), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

N770X Beech 58 Fatal

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S IMPROPER USE OF THE FUEL BOOST PUMPS FOR TAKE, AND HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN AIRSPEED ABOVE THE MINIMUM SINGLE ENGINE CONTROL SPEED (VMC), WHICH RESULTED IN A LOSS OF AIRCRAFT CONTROL.

Factual narrative

THE PLT STARTED TO TAKE OFF ON RWY 13R, BUT ABORTED, TAXIED OFF THE RWY & WENT TO THE ENG RUN-UP AREA. ABT 2 MIN LATER, HE ANNOUNCED AGAIN THAT HE WAS READY TO DEPART & WAS CLRD TO TAKE OFF. DURING THE INITIAL CLIMB AFTER LIFT-OFF, THE PLT STATED THAT HE NEEDED TO RETURN FOR LNDG. HE WAS CLRD TO LND ON ANY RWY & HE DECIDED TO LND ON RWY 31L. WITNESSES OBSERVED THE ACFT IN A SHARP DSCNDG TURN FROM ABT 800' AGL AS IT WAS MANEUVERED BACK TOWARD THE RWY. HOWEVER, THE DSCNT RATE INCREASED, THEN THE ACFT CRASHED ABT 1000' SHORT OF THE RWY. DURING IMPACT, IT HIT A LAMP POLE & POWER LINE, THEN CAME TO REST & BURNED. THE FUEL BOOST PUMP SWITCHES WERE FND IN THE 'HIGH' BOOST POSITIONS & THE RGT PROP CONTROL WAS FND IN THE FEATHER POSITION. THE FLT MANUAL RCMDD THAT THE BOOST PUMPS BE IN THE 'LOW' POSITION FOR TAKEOFFS & LNDGS. A TEST OF THE USE OF THE HIGH BOOST POSITION IN A SIMILAR ACFT RESULTED IN A ROUGH RUNNING ENG & ENG STOPPAGE. A WITNESS TO THE ACDNT RPRTD THAT HE HEARD THE ENG SPUTTERING & MISFIRING BEFORE THE ACFT CRASHED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_FTW90FA097.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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