LAX92LA125 · Cessna 182N
Soil Service Cessna 182N · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) while maneuvering
From Mesa Del Rey Airport (KIC) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX92LA125
- 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 182N
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 182
- 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
- N8948G
- Operator
- Soil Service
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Mesa Del Rey Airport (KIC), King City, CATo 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
- Maneuvering
- 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)
- 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
- Fuel contamination
- 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 › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A CESSNA 182 NOSED OVER IN A SOFT SOIL CULTIVATED FIELD AFTER EXPERIENCING A LOSS OF ENGINE POWER. THE LOSS OF POWER OCCURRED WHILE THE PILOT WAS SURVEYING A WHEAT FIELD THAT WAS SCHEDULED TO BE AERIAL SPRAYED THE FOLLOWING DAY. THE PILOT FOLLOWED THE EMERGENCY PROCEDURE AND ATTEMPTED TO REGAIN ENGINE POWER BUT TO NO AVIAL. HE THEN SELECTED THE CULTIVATED FIELD AS A FORCED LANDING AREA. DURING THE LANDING FLARE THE ENGINE REGAINED POWER, BUT THE PILOT IN COMMAND ELECTED NOT TO CHANCE ANOTHER LOSS OF POWER AND DECIDED TO CONTINUE THE OFF AIRPORT PRECAUTIONARY LANDING. THE AIRPLANE NOSED OVER WHEN THE NOSE GEAR SANK IN THE SOFT SOIL DURING THE LANDING ROLL. THE ENGINE WAS EXAMINED BY THE OPERATOR AFTER THE ACCIDENT. THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF MECHANICAL FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION FOUND. THE ENGINE WAS OPERATIONALLY TESTED AND RAN WITHOUT INCIDENT. THE OPERATOR BELIEVES WATER MAY HAVE CONTAMINATED THE FUEL SYSTEM AFTER RECENT RAINS.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT INSPECTION. CONTRIBUTING TO THIS ACCIDENT WAS WATER CONTAMINATION IN THE FUEL AND THE SOFT SOIL LANDING AREA.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX92LA125
- Event ID
- 20001211X14139
- Case number
- LAX92LA125
- 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: 5fdac3ecee770c6a6ccd8f082e5a6402d0c331b78b5ca83c752e3194f76819b3; retrieved 2026-09-23T03:21:47.042Z.