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LAX94LA324 · Cessna 150M

15 Aug 1994 · METTLER, CA, United States

Sorbi Flying Service Cessna 150M · Accident: loss of engine power en route

From Meadows Field (BFL) to Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport (MYF)

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Event

NTSB case
LAX94LA324
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
General aviation
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Cessna 150M

Aircraft type
Cessna 150
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N714GV
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Meadows Field (BFL), Bakersfield, CATo Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport (MYF), San Diego, CA
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 91: General Aviation
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
En route · cruise
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Loss of engine power
Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
Wire, transmission
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Company maintenance personnel › Maintenance, installation, improper
  • Company maintenance personnel › Maintenance, replacement, not performed
  • Exhaust system, baffle › Deteriorated
  • Exhaust system, stack › Blocked(partial)
  • Ignition system, magneto › Incorrect
  • Ignition system, spark plug › Worn

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT REPORTED A LOSS OF POWER WITH A ROUGH RUNNING ENGINE TO GROUND CONTROLLERS AND WAS GIVEN A RADAR VECTOR TOWARD A PRIVATE AIRSTRIP, BUT HE HAD INSUFFICIENT ALTITUDE TO MAKE THE RUNWAY. THE PILOT ATTEMPTED TO MAKE A NIGHT FORCED LANDING IN THE CENTER MEDIAN OF AN INTERSTATE HIGHWAY AND COLLIDED WITH POWER LINES. THE AIRCRAFT WAS EXAMINED BY AN FAA AIRWORTHINESS INSPECTOR WHO FOUND THAT THE RIGHT HAND HEAT EXCHANGER INTERNAL BAFFLING WAS DETERIORATED, ALLOWING STAINLESS STEEL MATERIAL TO LOOSEN AND EXIT OUT THE EXHAUST PIPE. IN THE SAME SECTION OF EXHAUST PIPE, A 1/4-INCH BOLT WAS INSTALLED TO RETAIN THE PIPE ON THE EXHAUST ASSEMBLY. THE BOLT WAS FOUND TO BE A NONSTANDARD INSTALLATION AND PROTRUDED 1/2 INCH INTO THE PIPE FORMING A RESTRICTION WHICH COULD COLLECT PIECES OF THE LOOSE BAFFLING MATERIAL. THE NUMBER 1 ENGINE CYLINDER WAS CRACKED ON THE EXHAUST SIDE OF THE HEAD. ALL SPARK PLUGS WERE WORN. THE RIGHT HAND MAGNETO WAS AN INCOMPATIBLE MODEL WITH THE CONTINENTAL O-200 SERIES ENGINES AND COULD NOT BE TIMED TO THE ENGINE.

Probable cause

a loss of engine power due to inadequate and improper maintenance procedures and practices. A factor in the accident was the dark night lighting conditions which inhibited the pilot's ability to select a suitable forced landing area.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX94LA324
Event ID
20001206X02080
Case number
LAX94LA324
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1994-08-16.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: da02f35951503999ff347c60992f06fea38270b1f4b0412cefe38950450416f7; retrieved 2026-09-23T00:48:42.358Z.