Skip to content

MIA85FA098

1985-02-17 · WILLISTON, Florida, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport X60

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE PLT TOOK OFF WITH THE FUEL SELECTOR ON 'BOTH' AND AT 300 FEET AGL SWITCHED THE FUEL SELECTOR TO 'LEFT'. THE SELECTOR WAS STILL ON 'LEFT' WHEN ENGINE LOST POWER AT THE BEGINNING OF THE BASE LEG. THE PLT TRIED TO REACH THE RWY BUT COLLIDED WITH EDGE OF LIMESTONE PIT ABOUT 1000 FT FROM THE APCH END OF RWY. INVESTIGATION DISCLOSED LEFT FUEL TANK WAS EMPTY AND THERE WERE APRX 4 GALS IN THE RIGHT TANK. EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THE ACFT CRASHED IN A VERY STEEP FLT PATH, SLIGHTLY NOSE HIGH ATTITUDE AND ALMOST NO FORWARD VELOCITY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1985_MIA85FA098.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.