Beech C24 N23984 accident near Denton, Texas

Probable cause

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.

NTSB analysis

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.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN14FA198 for the full record.