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LAX92FA161 · Beech A33

2 Apr 1992 · Paradise, CA, United States

Beech A33 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach

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Event

NTSB case
LAX92FA161
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

Beech A33

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 33
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
N9367Y
Operator
Desmet, Jeffrey G. · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo 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 go-around
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 (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
Stall/mush
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Dual student › Elevator, improper use of
  • Dual student › Mixture, inadvertent use
  • Dual student › Stall/mush, inadvertent
  • Pilot in command(cfi) › Supervision, inadequate

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

NTSB narrative

THE 60 HOUR STUDENT PILOT HAD A TOTAL OF 25 HOURS IN TYPE, ALL OF WHICH WERE DUAL. WITH HIS CURRENT FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR THE STUDENT RETURNED TO THEIR HOME BASE AIRPORT TO PERFORM A PREARRANGED GO-AROUND TO FINALIZE THEIR DUAL PERIOD FOR THE EVENING. AFTER THE APPROACH TO THE RUNWAY, THE INSTRUCTOR CALLED FOR THE GO-AROUND. AFTER THE CLIMB WAS ESTABLISHED AT ABOUT 500 FEET AGL HE CALLED FOR THE COWL FLAPS TO BE OPENED, AND MOMENTS LATER THE ENGINE SUDDENLY AND WITHOUT WARNING QUIT. THE INSTRUCTOR SAID THAT AFTER THE ENGINE QUIT THE STUDENT PULLED THE CONTROL YOKE ALL THE WAY BACK AND THE AIRCRAFT ENTERED A DEEP STALL. THE AIRPLANE HAD BEEN MODIFIED TO ACCOMMODATE AN ENGINE WITH MORE HORSE POWER WHICH REQUIRED THE INSTALLATION OF COWL FLAPS. THE FAA APPROVED STC MODIFICATION DRAWINGS REQUIRED THE PUSH-PULL CONTROL FOR THE COWL FLAPS TO BE LOCATED TO THE LEFT OF THE THROTTLE CONSOLE ON A SEPARATE SWITCH PANEL. THE ACTUAL LOCATION OF THAT CONTROL IN THE ACCIDENT AIRPLANE WAS FOUND TO THE RIGHT OF THE THROTTLE BELOW THE PROPELLER CONTROL AND NEXT TO

Probable cause

THE STUDENT PILOT'S INADVERTENT USE OF THE MIXTURE CONTROL INSTEAD OF THE COWL FLAPS AT A CRITICAL PHASE OF FLIGHT, HIS MISUSE OF THE FLIGHT CONTROLS AFTER THE ENGINE FAILURE AND THE INSTRUCTOR'S INADEQUATE SUPERVISION OF THE STUDENT. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS IN THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE NON STANDARD LOCATION OF THE COWL FLAP PUSH PULL CONTROL, DUE TO AN IMPROPER AIRCRAFT MODIFICATION, THE DARK NIGHT LIGHT CONDITIONS WHICH IMPAIRED THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTORS ABILITY TO MONITOR THE STUDENT COCKPIT CONTROL MANIPULATIONS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX92FA161
Event ID
20001211X14439
Case number
LAX92FA161
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 1992-04-03.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 364c3263ece80173c321a1764c536f661422314e2081c0f47e4a6353723f6797; retrieved 2026-09-21T01:17:44.546Z.