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LAX92LA194 · Piper PA-31-325

2 May 1992 · Independence, CA, United States

Cross Country Construction Piper PA-31-325 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route

From Hemet Ryan Airport (HMT) to 004 · Carson City, NV

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Event

NTSB case
LAX92LA194
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

Piper PA-31-325

Aircraft type
Piper PA-31
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
N59781
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Hemet Ryan Airport (HMT), Hemet, CATo 004 · Carson City, NV
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 (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 starvation; Wire, transmission
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

  • Fluid, fuel › Starvation
  • Pilot in command › Fuel system, improper use of
  • Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, attempted
  • Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate

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

NTSB narrative

THE PIPER NAVAJO HAD NOT FLOWN FOR ABOUT 9 MONTHS. DURING PREPARATION FOR FLIGHT THE PILOT DISCOVERED THAT THE BATTERY WAS DEAD. THE BATTERY WAS REMOVED FOR CHARGING BY THE FIXED BASE OPERATOR, THE BATTERY BOX WAS CLEANED AND PAINTED. THE OPERATOR ADVISED THAT THE BATTERY WAS OVER 3 YEARS OLD PLUS THE 9 MONTHS OF NON USE RENDERED THE BATTERY NON RELIABLE AND RECOMMENDED THAT IT BE REPLACED. THE PILOT CHOOSE NOT TO CHANGE THE BATTERY. THE PILOT REQUESTED THAT THE MAIN TANKS BE TOPPED. THE PILOT FLEW THE AIRPLANE FOR A SHORT TIME. THE NEXT DAY (DAY OF THE ACCIDENT) THE PILOT, WHILE PREFLIGHTING THE AIRPLANE, DISCOVERED THAT THE BATTERY WAS AGAIN DEAD SO HE REQUESTED AN EXTERNAL POWER CART FOR STARTING. ABOUT AN HOUR INTO THE CROSS COUNTRY FLIGHT THE PILOT STATED THAT BOTH ENGINES QUIT WHILE ON THE AUX TANKS. HE STATED THAT HE HAD NO ELECTRICAL POWER FOR FUEL BOOST PUMPS OR STARTERS. THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH ELECTRICAL POWER LINES DURING THE EMERGENCY LANDING ATTEMPT IN AN ALFALFA FIELD.

Probable cause

FUEL STARVATION DUE TO 1) THE PILOTS INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PLANNING PREPARATION, 2) THE PILOT'S FUEL SYSTEM MANAGEMENT, AND 3) HIS OPERATION OF THE AIRCRAFT WITH KNOWN DEFICIENCIES IN THE AIRCRAFT ELECTRICAL SYSTEM. FACTORS IN THE ACCIDENT WERE: 1) THE DETERIORATED CONDITION OF THE AIRPLANE BATTERY, AND, 2) THE PILOTS LACK OF RECENT EXPERIENCE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX92LA194
Event ID
20001211X14675
Case number
LAX92LA194
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: 38d8daa82d445006732169394834cee1c90cdcf7e59a9c3133ae4e8e9c8719c9; retrieved 2026-09-21T15:01:31.815Z.