Beechcraft C24 N23984

Summary

On 13 April 2014 at about 02:19 local time, a Beechcraft C24 registered N23984 was involved in an accident near Denton, Texas, United States. 3 people were on board and one died, one was seriously injured, one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

13 April 2014 at 02:19

Classification

Accident

Location

Denton, Texas, United States

Coordinates

33.4164, -97.4469

Aircraft

Beechcraft C24

Registration

N23984

Category

Airplane

Year built

1977

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Fayettville → Fort Worth

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

CEN14FA198

1 person died.

The pilot mistakenly manipulated the airplane's mixture knob rather than the propeller control knob during the descent, reducing the airplane's mixture knob to where the fuel-air mixture to the engine was too lean, which caused the engine to fail, and the pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during the subsequent night forced landing.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot was conducting a personal cross-country flight. The pilot reported that the airplane was level at 4,500 ft as he neared the arrival airport. An air traffic controller advised him to descend to 3,500 ft and he reduced power to begin the decent. He pulled the throttle back to set manifold pressure at 19 [inches] and pulled the propeller control to set 2,000rpm. There was initially a large drop in rpm, so he eased the propeller control forward slightly. He stated the rpm initially responded, but then fell and "he had no propulsion." The pilot declared a "Mayday" and attempted to set up to glide to another nearby airport but did not have sufficient altitude to reach it. He contacted the tower at the airport and reported that he would not make the field, and he then set up for a night forced landing to a dark area next to a road. Close to the ground, the airplane's landing lights illuminated a tree. The pilot grabbed the flap handle, applied all three notches of flaps, and back pressure on the controls. The stall warning horn came on, and the pilot pushed the nose of the airplane "back over." The pilot said that he didn't remember anything else until they were on the ground. The front seat passenger sustained fatal injuries. A postaccident examination of the engine showed no preimpact anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. In a subsequent statement, the pilot reported that, although he thought he had his hand on the propeller control, he actually had it on the mixture knob. As a result, he inadvertently moved the mixture knob too far aft, which would have made the fuel-air mixture to the engine too lean and caused the engine to lose power.    

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.