LAX89FA296 · Grumman AA-5B
Sussex Aviation Grumman AA-5B · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From L71 to Van Nuys Airport (VNY)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX89FA296
- 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
- 1 · 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
Grumman AA-5B
- Aircraft type
- Grumman AA-5
- 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
- N28493
- Operator
- Sussex Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From L71To Van Nuys Airport (VNY), Van Nuys, 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
- 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
- Partial 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/mush
- 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 › Airspeed(vs), not maintained
- Pilot in command › Stall/mush, inadvertent
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE STUDENT PILOT ON HER SECOND SOLO CROSS COUNRTY EXPERIENCED A PARTIAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER DURING THE INITIAL CLIMB. SHE MADE THREE ATTEMPTS TO LAND ON THE TAKEOFF RUNWAY, EACH TIME FLYING A LEFT TRAFFIC PATTERN THAT WAS LOWER THAN THE PRECEDING PATTERN. GROUND WITNESSES SAW THE AIRCRAFT FLY PATTERNS THAT WERE 'LOW, CLOSE AND WITH TIGHT BASE TO FINAL TURNS.' ON EACH BASE TO FINAL TURN, THE AIRCRAFT OVERSHOT THE TURN DUE TO A STRONG LEFT CROSS WIND. DURING THE THIRD BASE TO FINAL TURN, THE WITNESSES SAW THE AIRCRAFT ENTER A VERY STEEP BANK, STALL, AND HIT THE GROUND ON THE LEFT WING TIP. A POST CRASH FIRE DESTROYED THE AIRCRAFT. NO EVIDENCE OF A CATASTROPHIC ENGINE FAILURE WAS FOUND. FOUR OF THE SPARK PLUGS FAILED A PRESSURE CHAMBER TEST, WITH THREE OF THEM SHOWING GAPS IN EXCESS OF .022' (NORMAL GAP IS .016) AND WERE VERY WORN. REVIEW OF THE MAINTENANCE RECORDS SHOWED THAT THE MAINTENANCE FACILITY ONLY REPLACED SPARK PLUGS ON A ONE FOR ONE BASIS INSTEAD OF IN COMPLETE SETS.
Probable cause
FAILURE OF THE STUDENT PILOT TO MAINTAIN A PROPER AIRSPEED WHILE MANEUVERING FOR AN EMERGENCY LANDING. FACTORS IN THE ACCIDENT WERE THE PARTIAL ENGINE POWER LOSS, WHICH WAS DUE TO IMPROPER MAINTENANCE PROCEDURES, THE STUDENT PILOT'S INEXPERIENCE, THE STRONG CROSS WIND, AND THE HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX89FA296
- Event ID
- 20001213X29398
- Case number
- LAX89FA296
- 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: d5ec7bf44b85904e9350d7ba4bd9df2273438ac135a968012a8dab53be6c8eb6; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:09:55.542Z.