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Atlas / NTSB / MIA01IA110

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event MIA01IA110

2001-04-04 San Juan, Puerto Rico, United States Airport · SJU None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N19BA

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER PA46-500TP

Year of manufacture

2011

Engine

P&W CANADA PT6A-42A (850 hp)

Seats / Engines

6 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20110817

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A165EC

Registrant of record

WAKEHAM DIRK DAMON

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The captain's activation of the left propeller feathering button after failure of the right engine for undetermined reasons resulting in loss of all engine power and the airplane making a forced landing in water.

Factual narrative

On April 4, 2001, about 1220 Atlantic standard time, a Douglas DC-3A, N19BA, registered to and operated by Roblex Aviation Company, as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight, ditched in a shallow lagoon, near Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, San Juan, Puerto Rico, following loss of power in the right engine during a missed approach. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and no flight plan was filed. The airplane received minor damage, and the airline transport-rated pilot and commercial-rated copilot were not injured. The flight originated from San Juan, Puerto Rico, the same day, about 1200. The captain stated to FAA inspectors that he was giving flight training to the copilot. As engine power was applied to perform a go-around from an approach to runway 10, the right engine failed. The captain took control of the airplane and performed the emergency procedures for engine failure. While performing the procedures, he noticed the left engine was not producing power. He elected to make a forced landing in the water, 1 mile east of the airport. Just before impact with the water, he feathered the left propeller to avoid a sudden turn during impact. The copilot stated to FAA inspectors that they performed a practice ILS approach to runway 10. The right engine failed and the captain took control of the airplane. While the captain was performing the emergency procedures for the right engine failure, he observed the captain push the left propeller feather button. He had not noticed any malfunction of the left engine prior to this. The flight crew stated that while making a missed approach after a practice instrument landing system approach, the right engine failed. The captain took control of the airplane from the copilot. The captain stated that while he performed the emergency procedures for engine failure, he noticed the left engine was not producing power. He then made a forced landing in water east of the airport. He stated that just before impact, he feathered the left propeller. The copilot stated he observed the captain activate the propeller feathering button for the left engine as he performed the emergency procedures for the right engine failure. The reason for failure of the right engine was not determined. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2001_MIA01IA110.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 (engine failure, go-around). 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 ↗