FTW90FA171
1990-08-30 · CENTER, Texas, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport F17
N377S has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (SWORDS DONALD H HATZ CB-1, built 2014), which was not involved in this event.
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN MINIMUM CONTROL SPEED (VMC) AND LACK OF QUALIFICATION/TRAINING IN MULTI-ENGINE AIRCRAFT, WHICH RESULTED IN LOSS OF AIRCRAFT CONTROL. A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS: FAILURE OF THE LEFT ENGINE TURBOCHARGER, WHICH RESULTED IN LOSS OF POWER IN THE LEFT ENGINE.
Factual narrative
DURING A DAY VMC DEPARTURE FROM AN ESTABLISHED AIRPORT, THE AIRPLANE EXPERIENCED A LOSS OF POWER IN THE LEFT ENGINE DUE TO A TURBOCHARGER FAILURE. THE AIRPLANE ROLLED TO AN INVERTED POSITION AND DESCENDED UNCONTROLLABLY TO GROUND IMPACT. THE PILOT/OWNER SUSTAINED FATAL INJURIES. THE PILOT WAS CERTIFICATED FOR SINGLE ENGINE LAND ONLY AND HAD NO KNOWN TRAINING IN MULTI-ENGINE AIRPLANES. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1990_FTW90FA171.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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