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LAX92LA214 · Cobb Intl EXEC 90

22 May 1992 · Glendale, AZ, United States

Cobb International Cobb Intl EXEC 90 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route

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Event

NTSB case
LAX92LA214
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

Cobb Intl EXEC 90

Aircraft type
Cobb EXEC 90
Category
Helicopter
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
N7656T
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
En route · descent
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)
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

  • Company maintenance personnel › Maintenance, adjustment, improper

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

NTSB narrative

THE FLIGHT DEPARTED THE AIRPORT ON A LOCAL INSTRUCTIONAL FLIGHT. WHEN THE FLIGHT RETURNED TO THE AIRPORT THE CFI INSTRUCTED THE NONCERTIFICATED STUDENT PILOT TO EXECUTE A SIMULATED ENGINE OUT AUTOROTATION. THE STUDENT PILOT ENTERED THE AUTOROTATION AT A LOW MAIN ROTOR RPM, BUT DURING THE DESCENT THE RPM INCREASED TO THE LOW SIDE OF ITS NORMAL OPERATING RANGE. THE CFI ATTEMPTED TO TERMINATE THE AUTOROTATION AT 200 FEET AGL BECAUSE OF THE MARGINAL LOW ROTOR RPM, BUT WHEN HE APPLIED RAPID FULL THROTTLE THE ENGINE FALTERED AND THEN FAILED. THE CFI EXECUTED AN EMERGENCY AUTOROATIVE LANDING. ON TOUCHDOWN THE HELICOPTER BOUNCED, THE SKIDS DUG INTO THE SOFT DIRT ON THE SECOND TOUCHDOWN AND THE HELICOPTER CAME TO AN ABRUPT STOP AND ROLLED OVER. THE POST ACCIDENT ENGINE EXAMINATION DISCLOSED THAT THE ENGINE OPERATED NORMALLY THROUGHOUT ITS NORMAL OPERATIONAL PARAMETERS BUT WHEN THE THROTTLE WAS RAPIDLY APPLIED AFTER A PROLONGED IDLE THE ENGINE FALTERED. THE IDLE RPM WAS MARGINAL AND THE CARBURETOR HAD RECENTLY BEEN REPLACED.

Probable cause

THE IMPROPER CARBURETOR IDLE ADJUSTMENT BY COMPANY MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL. CONTRIBUTING TO THIS ACCIDENT WAS THE CFI'S INABILITY TO ATTAIN ADEQUATE RPM AND THE SOFT DIRT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX92LA214
Event ID
20001211X14686
Case number
LAX92LA214
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: f832e6a55ca71b7208057ac3bce7b074961c80301fd1ded50af9103368482782; retrieved 2026-09-23T03:07:53.608Z.