LAX91FA156 · Herbert W. Ross RV-4
Herbert W. Ross RV-4 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX91FA156
- 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
- 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
Herbert W. Ross RV-4
- Aircraft type
- Herbert W Ross RV-4
- 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
- N45EM
- Operator
- S. K. Franks · private individual
- 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
- 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
- Stall
- 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
- Passenger › Control interference, inadvertent
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
SHORTLY AFTER LIFTOFF ON RUNWAY 22 THE TANDEM SEATING AIRPLANE EXPERIENCED A TOTAL LOSS OF POWER FOLLOWED BY THE AIRPLANE'S NOSE PITCHING UP RAPIDLY AND THEN STALL. THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH A GOLF CART AND BURST INTO FLAMES. BOTH OCCUPANTS WERE KILLED FROM THE RESULTING POST IMPACT FIRE. WITNESSES REPORTED THAT ONLY THE PILOT WAS OBSERVED AT THE TIME THE AIRPLANE PITCHED UP. THE PILOT WAS FOUND LYING FORWARD AND THE REAR SEAT OCCUPANT WAS LYING SUPINE PARTLY IN THE AFT FUSELAGE. EXAMINATION DISCLOSED THE REAR SEAT PASSENGER'S SEAT FAILED IN A REARWARD DIRECTION AND THAT THE FUEL SELECTOR VALVE WAS SELECTED TO THE OFF POSITION.
Probable cause
THAT THE PILOT INADVERTENTLY SELECTED THE WRONG FUEL TANK AND THE PASSENGER INTERFERED WITH THE FLIGHT CONTROLS WHEN THE SEAT BACK FAILED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX91FA156
- Event ID
- 20001212X16794
- Case number
- LAX91FA156
- 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: 3477bd16fd54849bcfb88f966c26505087815fc3f48abf5242c335359b9d039a; retrieved 2026-09-21T01:52:47.882Z.