- Date
- December 5, 1983, 20:10 local (Dec 6, 1983, 02:10 UTC)
- Place
- Brownsville, TX
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Unknown
- Aircraft
- N44609Beech D18S
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19831205059589A
- Case key
- 21093
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The plt had just taken off at night on a flt to Mexico when he declared an intent to return & land with some unspecified emergency. While he was using his radio, the sound of both engs, running at hi power, was audible. When asked if he required assistance, he gave an affirmative reply, but when asked if he required a crash crew, he gave a negative reply. Shortly after that, the acft collided with power lines about 1 mi from the rwy, then impacted the ground & was demolished by fire. Impact with the power lines occurred at about 55 ft AGL. A wire impact mark on the nose door indicated the acft was in a vertical bank when the collision occurred. An exam of the wreckage revealed no evidence of a preimpact/mechanical malfunction or failure; however, there was extensive damage from fire. There was evidence that the acft was loaded beyond its max certificated gross wt. The plt had a temporary U.S. License based on his canadian license.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N44609
- Reported as
- Beech D18S
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- A17
- Engine
- P&W R-985-AN14, 450 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Isabel Castillo
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Destination
- Torreon
- Airport
- BRO · Brownsville Int'L, runway 13R, 7,400 × 150 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 27
- Certificates
- Foreign, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Unknown, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 310° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 16,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BRO, 2 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N44609 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.