LAX95LA309 · Josephson MC-15 CRICKET MC-15 CRIC
Josephson MC-15 CRICKET MC-15 CRIC · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Miramar Marine Corps Air Station - Mitscher Field (NKX) to Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport (MYF)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX95LA309
- 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
Josephson MC-15 CRICKET MC-15 CRIC
- Aircraft type
- Josephson MC-15
- 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
- N128HJ
- Operator
- Mike Gretton
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Miramar Marine Corps Air Station - Mitscher Field (NKX), MIRAMAR NAS, CATo Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport (MYF), 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
- Total loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
- 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
- Ignition system, high tension wiring › Deteriorated
- Ignition system, low tension wiring › Chafed
- Ignition system, low tension wiring › Shorted
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, annual inspection, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of San Diego, CA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
APPROXIMATELY 4 MILES FROM THE DEPARTURE RUNWAY, THE LEFT ENGINE STOPPED ON THE TWO-ENGINE, AMATEUR-BUILT AIRCRAFT. THE PILOT ALTERED COURSE TOWARD HIS DESTINATION, BUT FOUND HE WAS UNABLE TO MAINTAIN ALTITUDE ON THE REMAINING ENGINE AND ELECTED TO ATTEMPT AN OFF-AIRPORT LANDING ON A NEARBY ISLAND. THE PILOT WAS UNABLE TO REACH THE LANDING SITE AND LANDED THE LANDPLANE IN THE WATER APPROXIMATELY 50 FEET OFFSHORE. INSPECTION OF THE FAILED ENGINE REVEALED THAT THE SINGLE IGNITION SYSTEM WAS INOPERATIVE DUE TO A CHAFFED PRIMARY WIRE WHICH HAD SHORT CIRCUITED TO THE ENGINE MOUNT. THE SECONDARY IGNITION WIRE WAS ALSO IN A DETERIORATED CONDITION. THE AIRCRAFT HAD RECEIVED AN ANNUAL INSPECTION AND HAD BEEN APPROVED FOR RETURN TO SERVICE 1 WEEK PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT AND HAD ACCUMULATED 2.4 HOURS SINCE INSPECTION.
Probable cause
the failure of the left engine due to inadequate maintenance of the ignition system.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX95LA309
- Event ID
- 20001207X04303
- Case number
- LAX95LA309
- 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 1995-08-29.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 2abe17d7d1b2233ad4c023895bf8cf6624ab38bd99e5d6e4e6e84911a83e61c2; retrieved 2026-09-22T23:20:07.233Z.