LAX95LA121 · Thunder and Colt GA42
Thunder and Colt GA42 · Accident: loss of control in flight on approach
From Hayward Executive Airport (HWD) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX95LA121
- 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
- 1 · 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
Thunder and Colt GA42
- Aircraft type
- Thunder And Colt GA42
- Category
- Blimp
- 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
- N28SQ
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Hayward Executive Airport (HWD)To not recorded
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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 control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- None
Cause areas
- Electrical system, electric wiring › Shorted
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, installation, improper
- Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, attempted
- Pilot in command › Remedial action, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE BLIMP HAD A HISTORY OF UNRESOLVED ELECTRICAL SYSTEM CHARGING PROBLEMS. THE GROUND CREW WERE GIVEN RIDES AFTER THE LAST REVENUE FLIGHT. AS ONE OF THE GROUND CREW GOT IN FOR HIS RIDE, HE ACCIDENTLY MOVED THE MIXTURE AND KILLED THE ENGINE. THE PILOT RESTARTED THE ENGINE THEN SAID HE HAD A LOW-BATTERY WARNING LIGHT, BUT THOUGHT HE HAD ENOUGH OF A CHARGE TO MAKE ONE MORE CIRCUIT. THE PASSENGER SAID THE LOW-BATTERY LIGHT REMAINED ON FOR THE ENTIRE FLIGHT. ON APPROACH, THE PILOT WENT AROUND DUE TO A WIND GUST. ON THE SECOND DOWNWIND, THE VOLTAGE DROPPED TO 4 AND THE PILOT TURNED DIRECTLY TOWARD THE LANDING AREA. AT THAT POINT, THE ELECTRICAL SERVOS WHICH MOVE THE CONTROL SURFACES STOPPED WORKING DUE TO THE LOW VOLTAGE. THE BLIMP HIT THE GRASS SHORT OF THE LANDING ZONE AND BOUNCED ALONG THE GROUND UNTIL IT STOPPED NEAR THE TOP OF A BERM. THE PILOT TOLD THE PASSENGER TO GET OUT AND HOLD THE BLIMP DOWN. THE PASSENGER TRIPPED AS HE GOT OUT AND ROLLED DOWN THE HILL. WHEN HE GOT BACK ON HIS FEET, THE BLIMP WAS RISING WITH THE PILOT HOLDING ON TO A HOLD DOWN RAIL. THE PILOT LOST HIS GRIP AND FELL FROM 200 FEET. POSTACCIDENT TESTS OF THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM REVEALED THAT A SHORT IN THE STARTER SWITCH WAS CONSTANTLY DRAINING THE BATTERY. THE SWITCH WIRING WAS NOT INSTALLED IN ACCORDANCE WITH FACTORY STANDARDS OR THE MAINTENANCE MANUAL.
Probable cause
the pilot's decision to operate the blimp with a known and unresolved deficiency in the electrical system, which led to a loss of the flight controls and the pilot's improper remedial actions after the blimp came to rest on the ground.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX95LA121
- Event ID
- 20001207X03003
- Case number
- LAX95LA121
- 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: investigation status, damage. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: d74e962211a393dbd33165ed90eb6556e8ad2231db107c991924a0868bc9a62a; retrieved 2026-09-20T23:51:28.608Z.