LAX89LA155 · Cessna 152
Cessna 152 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) while maneuvering
From San Gabriel Valley Airport (EMT) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX89LA155
- 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
- N25884
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From San Gabriel Valley Airport (EMT), El Monte, CATo 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Procedures/directives, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A CESSNA 152 COLLIDED WITH A FENCE DURING A FORCED LANDING. AT 4,000 FT MSL, THE CFI SWITCHED THE FUEL SHUT OFF VALVE TO THE OFF POSITION TO SIMULATE AN ENG FAILURE. THE STUDENT PILOT SWITCHED THE FUEL SHUT OFF VALVE TO THE ON POSITION. THE ENG DID NOT REGAIN RPM. THE CFI THEN 'DOUBLE CHECKED' TO SEE THAT THE STUDENT SWITCHED THE FUEL SHUT OFF VALVE TO THE 'ON' POSITION. THE ENG BEGAN TO FIRE AND THEN QUIT. THE CFI THEN CHECKED THE FUEL SHUT OFF VALVE AGAIN ALONG WITH THE MIXTURE CTRL, MAGNETOS, AND ENG PRIMER. AT 2000 FT MSL THE PROPELLER STOPPED TURNING. THE CFI ENGAGED THE STARTER IN AN ATTEMPT TO RESTART THE ENG. THE CFI OVERSHOT THE INTENDED LANDING AREA AND SELECTED ANOTHER ROAD AND LANDED SHORT OF IT. THE ACFT STRUCK A FENCE AND NOSED OVER. THE ACFT WAS EXAMINED AND THE CARBURETOR FUEL BOWL WAS FOUND EMPTY OF FUEL. AC 61-21 STATES, IN PART, 'THE CFI SHOULD GIVE SIMULATED FORCED LANDINGS BY RETARDING THE THROTTLE.'
Probable cause
IMPROPER PROCEDURE USED BY THE CERTIFIED FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR IN SIMULATING AN ENGINE FAILURE. CONTRIBUTING TO THIS ACCIDENT WAS THE LACK OF TOTAL FLIGHT INSTRUCTION EXPERIENCE OF THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX89LA155
- Event ID
- 20001213X28122
- Case number
- LAX89LA155
- 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 1989-04-10.
- API snapshot SHA-256: c0305f4e5bb09f319c8732a3e96b4995ba0e840462375a6e59f53b5f904fc8d6; retrieved 2026-09-23T07:43:20.820Z.