LAX93GA053 · Cessna 404
U. S. Customs Service Cessna 404 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Davis Monthan Air Force Base (DMA) to Davis Monthan Air Force Base (DMA)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX93GA053
- 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
Cessna 404
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 404
- 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
- N5429J
- Operator
- U. S. Customs Service
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Davis Monthan Air Force Base (DMA)To Davis Monthan Air Force Base (DMA)
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, poor
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING A 2 HOUR AND 40 MINUTE TRAINING MISSION, THE PILOT MAINTAINED A LOW POWER SETTING WITH THE FUEL MIX AT FULL RICH. AFTER THE MISSION, THE PILOT CLIMBED THE AIRPLANE TO 9,000 FEET AGL TO CLEAR OBSTACLES BETWEEN HIS LOCATION AND HIS DESTINATION. DURING THE DESCENT, THE PILOT SAID HE REDUCED POWER MORE RAPIDLY THAN USUAL AND DESCENDED FASTER THAN NORMAL AT ABOUT 180 KIAS. ABOUT 800 TO 1,000 FEET AGL, IN THE TRAFFIC PATTERN, THE PILOT APPLIED POWER. BOTH ENGINES LOST TOTAL POWER. HE SET UP AN 85 KIAS GLIDE; COMPETED EMERGENCY PROCEDURES; AND RETRACTED THE LANDING GEAR. THE ENGINES DID NOT RE START. HE DID NOT FEATHER THE PROPELLERS. HE EXTENDED THE LANDING GEAR PRIOR TO TOUCHDOWN. THE PILOT SAID HE DID NOT FLARE THE AIRPLANE DURING LANDING WHICH RESULTED IN THE AIRPLANE COLLIDING WITH THE GROUND. THE ENGINE MANUAL AND THE POH RECOMMEND ADJUSTING THE FUEL MIXTURE FOR CRUISE. AN ENGINE MANUAL NOTE STATES LONG DESCENTS AT LOW POWER SHOULD BE AVOIDED BECAUSE THE ENGINES MAY COOL EXCESSIVELY AND MAY NOT ACCELERATE SATISFACTORILY WHEN POWER IS RE APPLIED. THE POH RECOMMENDS FEATHERING PROPELLERS AND GLIDING AT 120 KIAS FOR DUAL ENGINE FAILURE. SOOT WAS NOTED ON ALL SPARK PLUGS DURING ENGINE EXAM. BOTH ENGINES STARTED AND RAN NORMALLY FROM IDLE TO FULL ACCELERATION DURING THE EXAM.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S INFLIGHT DECISION TO DEVIATE FROM THE AIRPLANE'S ENGINE MANUAL AND THE PILOT'S OPERATING HANDBOOK BY MAINTAINING THE FUEL MIXTURE AT FULL RICH THROUGHOUT THE MISSION AND RAPIDLY DESCENDING THE AIRPLANE WHICH RESULTED IN BOTH ENGINE'S LOSING TOTAL POWER. FACTORS IN THIS ACCIDENT WERE 1) THE PILOT NOT FOLLOWING THE EMERGENCY PROCEDURE FOR BOTH ENGINES FAILING AS OUTLINED IN THE PILOT'S OPERATING HANDBOOK, AND 2) THE PILOT NOT PERFORMING A FLARE DURING THE LANDING SEQUENCE WHICH RESULTED IN THE AIRPLANE COLLIDING WITH THE TERRAIN.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX93GA053
- Event ID
- 20001211X16053
- Case number
- LAX93GA053
- 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 1992-11-27.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 52b4821967cc87c079ae87617df01b7425054f776a398a213b407616799c49a4; retrieved 2026-09-23T02:27:51.199Z.