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LAX88LA116 · Beech F35

25 Feb 1988 · PACOIMA, CA, United States

Beech F35 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route

From Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) to Hollywood Burbank/Bob Hope Airport (BUR)

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Event

NTSB case
LAX88LA116
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

Beech F35

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 35
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
N5041B
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), Las Vegas, NVTo Hollywood Burbank/Bob Hope Airport (BUR), Burbank, CA
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)
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 starvation
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

  • Fluid, fuel › Starvation
  • Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, improper
  • Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, improper

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

NTSB narrative

THE PLT RPRTD THAT HE HAD INITIALLY PSND THE FUEL SELECTOR (SEL) TO THE LEFT MAIN TANK. HE SAID THAT AFTER ABT 1 HR OF FLT (NEAR PALMDALE, CA), HE PSND THE SEL TO THE RGT MAIN TANK FOR A SHORT TIME, THEN (NEAR PACOIMA), HE MOVED IT BACK TO THE LEFT MAIN TANK. THEREAFTER, THE ENG SUDDENLY LOST POWER AS THE ACFT WAS NEARING THE DESTN AT 3500' MSL (2500' AGL). THE PLT STATED THAT HE TRIED TO RESTART THE ENG, BUT WAS UNABLE. HE COULD NOT VISUALLY ACQUIRE THE DESTN ARPT, SO HE REVERSED COURSE IN AN ATMT TO LAND AT WHITEMAN ARPT, BUT DID NOT REACH IT. DRG AN EMERG LANDING, THE ACFT COLLIDEDWITH RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY & SVRL AUTOS ABT 1/4 MI FROM THE ARPT. AN EXAM REVEALED THE LEFT MAIN & RGT AUX FUEL TANKS WERE EMPTY, BUT THE LEFT AUX & RGT MAIN TANKS WERE NEARLY FULL.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX88LA116
Event ID
20001213X25107
Case number
LAX88LA116
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: 0e3071a2c01cccd0935f9a43108516a5ec6e65ee012d7845dd2af50f81c42466; retrieved 2026-09-23T10:56:57.714Z.