LAX92LA115 · Cessna 150
Sacramento Exec Heli Cessna 150 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during takeoff
From an unrecorded airport to Q53 · Walnut Grove, CA
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX92LA115
- 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 150
- 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
- N8580J
- Operator
- Sacramento Exec Heli
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Q53 · Walnut Grove, 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
- Takeoff
- 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
- Partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Carburetor heat, improper use of
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE INSTRUCTOR PILOT STATED THAT HE AND HIS STUDENT HAD DEPARTED ON A VFR CROSS COUNTRY TRAINING FLIGHT. WHILE ENROUTE TO THEIR DESTINATION HE INITIATED A SIMULATED ENGINE FAILURE NEAR AN ENROUTE UNCONTROLLED AIRPORT. HE STATED THE WINDS WERE VARIABLE AND ESTIMATED TO BE ABOUT 8 KNOTS FROM THE NORTHWEST. THE INSTRUCTOR SAID THAT THE STUDENT WAS FLYING THE AIRPLANE UNTIL HE TOOK OVER TO ALIGN THE AIRPLANE WITH THE RUNWAY CENTERLINE. THE INSTRUCTOR EXTENDED 30 DEGREES OF FLAPS AND COMPLETED THE TOUCH AND GO LANDING. HE SAID AFTER APPLYING FULL POWER HE PUSHED THE CARBURETOR HEAT OFF AND RETRACTED THE FLAPS. AT ABOUT 50/60 FEET HE STATED THAT THE AIRPLANE'S ENGINE LOST POWER. THE PILOT ENTERED A FORCED LANDING WITH PARTIAL ENGINE POWER. THE AIRPLANE OVERSHOT THE 3240 FEET LONG RUNWAY TO THE LEFT SIDE AND DURING LANDING ROLL, COLLIDED WITH A FENCE. ACCORDING TO A STANDARD CARBURETOR ICING PROBABILITY CHART, THE TEMPERATURE AND DEW POINT WERE LOCATED IN THE MODERATE ICING-CRUISE POWER OR SERIOUS ICING-GLIDE POWER AREA OF THE CHART.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE CFI TO PROPERLY USE CARBURETOR HEAT IN CONDITIONS CONDUCIVE TO THE FORMATION OF CARBURETOR ICE. FACTORS IN THIS ACCIDENT WERE: 1) WEATHER CONDITIONS CONDUCIVE TO CARBURETOR ICING AND 2) THE LACK OF SUITABLE TERRAIN TO COMPLETE THE FORCED LANDING.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX92LA115
- Event ID
- 20001211X14131
- Case number
- LAX92LA115
- 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. 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: e9343269dbf7f6b45054fef8a315b6b95488b50e099dacd9f3214e846d82eff3; retrieved 2026-09-23T03:23:00.563Z.