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LAX92LA167 · Bede Aircraft BD-5

4 Apr 1992 · Compton, CA, United States

Bede Aircraft BD-5 · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb

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Event

NTSB case
LAX92LA167
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

Bede Aircraft BD-5

Aircraft type
Bede BD-5
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
N3DW
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
Initial climb
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 engine power
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/spin
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

  • Pilot in command › Airspeed(vso), not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, not followed
  • Pilot in command › Stall/spin, inadvertent
  • Reason for occurrence undetermined

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

NTSB narrative

THE AIRPLANE'S ENGINE HAD A TOTAL LOSS OF POWER DURING TAKEOFF CLIMB. WITNESSES REPORTED 'SEEING THE AIRCRAFT FALL STRAIGHT DOWN TO THE GROUND.' FAA AIRWORTHINESS INSPECTORS EXAMINED THE AIRPLANE'S ENGINE AND COULD FIND NO PRE-EXISTING DEFICIENCIES WHICH WOULD ACCOUNT FOR THE LOSS OF ENGINE POWER. EXAMINATION OF THE PILOT'S LOGBOOK ENTRIES SHOWED NO ENTRIES FOR A BIENNIAL FLIGHT REVIEW. ACCORDING TO THE PILOT'S LOGBOOK, HE LAST LOGGED A FLIGHT ON MARCH 26, 1990. FRIENDS OF THE PILOT REPORTED THAT HE HAD PERIODICALLY FLOWN THE ACCIDENT AIRPLANE SINCE HE PURCHASED IT IN MARCH 1992. A WITNESS ALSO REPORTED THAT THE PILOT HAD NOT ATTEMPTED POWER OFF STALLS IN THE ACCIDENT AIRPLANE. A DILIGENT SEARCH WAS CONDUCTED BY THE FAA TO DETERMINE IF THE PILOT HAD A CURRENT MEDICAL CERTIFICATE. THE DILIGENT SEARCH CONCLUDED THAT A CURRENT MEDICAL CERTIFICATE WAS NOT ON FILE WITH THE FAA.

Probable cause

1) A TOTAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS, 2) THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN AN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED, AND 3) THE INADVERTENT ENTRY INTO A STALL SPIN. FACTORS IN THIS ACCIDENT WERE: 1) THE PILOT'S LACK OF FAMILIARITY WITH THE AIRPLANE, AND 2) THE PILOT'S LACK OF RECENT AERONAUTICAL EXPERIENCE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX92LA167
Event ID
20001211X14450
Case number
LAX92LA167
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: c3a9e0c01468e9ac68d705418334f7e56820dd7355527b95009f3f4d2b76cbb9; retrieved 2026-09-21T01:17:41.120Z.