LAX91LA263 · Cessna 152
Superstition Air Service Cessna 152 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Falcon Field (FFZ) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX91LA263
- 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 152
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 152
- 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
- N49627
- Operator
- Superstition Air Service
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Falcon Field (FFZ), Mesa, AZTo 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
- Approach · VFR go-around
- 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
- Partial 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
- Dual student › Carburetor heat, improper use of
- Dual student › Mixture, improper use of
- Dual student › Procedures/directives, not followed
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Supervision, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Fountain Hills, AZ, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE INSTRUCTOR SAID THAT THE STUDENT WAS PRACTICING POWER OFF EMERGENCY LANDINGS AT A SMALL AIRSTRIP NEAR FOUNTAIN HILLS. DURING THE LAST APPROACH TO THE RUNWAY THE INSTRUCTOR NOTICED THAT THE GLIDE PATH WOULD PUT THE AIRCRAFT SHORT OF THE RUNWAY SO HE TOOK OVER THE CONTROLS AND ADDED POWER TO GO AROUND. THE INSTRUCTOR STATED THAT THE ENGINE FALTERED AND THE AIRCRAFT COULD NOT MAINTAIN ALTITUDE. THE AIRCRAFT COLLIDED WITH RISING TERRAIN JUST BEYOND THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY. THE AIRCRAFT WAS EXAMINED ON SCENE BY FAA AIRWORTHINESS INSPECTORS. IN THEIR REPORT, THEY NOTED THAT THE CARBURETOR HEAT CONTROL WAS IN THE FULL ON POSITION AND THE MIXTURE CONTROL WAS FULL RICH. THE DENSITY ALTITUDE WAS COMPUTED TO BE IN EXCESS OF 5,000 FEET.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE STUDENT PILOT AND INSTRUCTOR PILOT TO CORRECTLY CONFIGURE THE AIRCRAFT FOR THE ATTEMPTED GO AROUND. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE IMPROPER SUPERVISION OF THE FLIGHT BY THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX91LA263
- Event ID
- 20001212X17314
- Case number
- LAX91LA263
- 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: ad914a72eca2d1a1c9950a4f3fb9233dc3f6bab3ceb98266e6c6a3c85e0e8219; retrieved 2026-09-23T04:04:40.001Z.