LAX92FA257 · Waco UPF-7
Out of Arizona Biplane Tours Waco UPF-7 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Seychelles International Airport (SEZ) to an unrecorded destination
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's operation. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX92FA257
- 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
- 2 · 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 Possible conflict
- 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
Waco UPF-7
- Aircraft type
- Waco UPF-7
- 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
- N29926
- Operator
- Out of Arizona Biplane Tours
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Seychelles International Airport (SEZ)To 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 · 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 exhaustion; Tree(s)
- 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 › Exhaustion
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Refueling, not performed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT WAS PROVIDING FOR HIRE SIGHTSEEING TOURS OF A SCENIC AREA OF SEDONA, ARIZONA, IN A VINTAGE BIPLANE. THE FRONT COCKPIT HAD BEEN MODIFIED TO ACCOMMODATE TWO PASSENGERS. NO RECORD OF AN APPROVED SEAT MODIFICATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH FACTORY SPECIFICATIONS OR A FAA FIELD APPROVAL WAS LOCATED. THE PILOT STATED THAT HE DEPARTED WITH 10 GALLONS OF FUEL ON BOARD FOR A 30 MINUTE TOUR. HE COULD NOT SAY HOW THE FUEL WAS DISTRIBUTED IN THE TANKS. HE ALSO SAID HE DID NOT USE A DIP STICK OR OTHER MEASURING DEVICE TO QUANTIFY THE FUEL LEVEL, BUT ESTIMATED THE TOTAL FUEL BASED ON CONSUMPTION ESTIMATES FROM PRIOR FLIGHTS. THE AIRPLANE HAS TWO 25 GALLON FUEL TANKS IN THE TOP WINGS WITH FLOAT SIGHT GAUGES UNDERWING. THE AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE MANUAL STATES THAT 10 GALLONS OF FUEL IS THE MINIMUM REQUIRED FOR TAKEOFF IN THE TANK SELECTED. REGARDING THE SIGHT GAUGES, THE MANUAL STATES: 'AN ACCURATE READING CANNOT BE OBTAINED FROM THE GASOLINE GAUGES ON THE GROUND'. BOTH GAUGES WERE CONTAMINATED WITH A TAR LIKE SUBSTANCE ADHERING TO THE WIRE INDICATORS, WHICH RESEMBLED AN UNIDENTIFIED COATING FOUND INSIDE THE FUEL TANKS. EXAMINATION OF THE FUEL SYSTEM DISCLOSED THAT ONLY RESIDUAL FUEL REMAINED IN THE FUEL TANKS AND LINES TO THE ENGINE. FUEL SYSTEM CONTINUITY WAS ESTABLISHED.
Probable cause
FUEL EXHAUSTION DUE TO THE PILOTS INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PLANNING AND HIS FAILURE TO REFUEL THE AIRPLANE PRIOR TO DEPARTURE. FACTORS IN THE ACCIDENT WERE: 1) THE UNRELIABLE FUEL SIGHT GAUGES WHICH WERE CONTAMINATED WITH A TAR LIKE RESIDUE WHICH MAY HAVE PROVIDED AN ERRONEOUS INDICATION OF FUEL IN THE SYSTEM, 2) INADEQUATE AIRPLANE MAINTENANCE, AND, 3) THE UNSUITABLE TREE COVERED NATURE OF THE TERRAIN WHERE THE FORCED LANDING WAS ATTEMPTED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX92FA257
- Event ID
- 20001211X14888
- Case number
- LAX92FA257
- 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: d2300c99b165f6015ed671de1b4733dc23f13e095a50bcc90390635c9062c563; retrieved 2026-09-21T01:06:04.740Z.