Accident Details
A Venezuelan-registered Beech King Air C90 departed Caracas, Venezuela's Oscar Machado Zuloaga International Airport at 1516 eastern daylight time with a pilot and two passengers aboard. The flight was destined for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Florida. The route filed with air traffic control included a direct leg to Maiquetia, then Amber Route-315 to Bimini, followed by Bahama Route 57V to Fort Lauderdale. The planned flight level was 220, and the pilot stated that 7 hours 15 minutes of fuel was aboard. Immigration and customs general declaration papers found in the wreckage indicated the flight's intended destination was Nassau. The pilot's daughter stated that the pilot always stopped at Nassau for fuel on previous trips.
After 6 hours 6 minutes of flight, the aircraft crashed into a highway abutment about 1,700 feet short of the intended landing runway at Fort Lauderdale. The total accountable onboard fuel at the time of the crash was 3 to 4 gallons. Type certification data sheets for the King Air C90 specify an unusable fuel quantity of 24 pounds (3.6 gallons of Jet-A fuel).
Injuries
One passenger received fatal injuries, one passenger received serious injuries, and the pilot received serious injuries.
Examination of Aircraft Systems
Disassembly examination of the engines at the factory service center revealed no evidence of any condition that would have precluded normal operation prior to the crash. No precrash abnormalities were noted with the propellers, their components, or any other aircraft system component.
Probable Cause
The investigation source did not state a probable cause.