LAX86LA227 · Bellanca 7ACA
Bellanca 7ACA · Accident: loss of control on ground/water while standing
From Lompoc Airport (LPC) to Santa Maria Public Airport Captain G Allan Hancock Field (SMX)
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's aircraft involved. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX86LA227
- 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
Bellanca 7ACA Possible conflict
- Aircraft type
- Bellanca 7
- 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
- N9158L
- Operator
- Susan K. Schwab · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Lompoc Airport (LPC), Lompoc, CATo Santa Maria Public Airport Captain G Allan Hancock Field (SMX), Santa Maria, 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
- Standing · engine(s) start-up
- 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
- Loss of control on ground/water
- 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 › Aircraft preflight, improper
- Pilot in command › Aircraft unattended/engine(s) running, improper
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
- Pilot in command › Proper assistance, not attained
- Pilot in command › Starting procedure, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE BELLANCE CHAMPION WENT OUT OF CONTROL AN COLLIDED WITH TWO OTHER PARKED ACFT AFTER A HAND PROPPED START. THE PLT INDICATED THAT THE ACFT WAS TIED DOWN WITH TWO CHAINS ATTACHED TO EACH OF THE WINGS AT ONE END AND TO A CABLE THAT STRETCHED ACROSS THE RAMP AT THE OTHER END. THE PLT ELECTED TO HAND START THE ENG WITHOUT SOMEONE ON THE BRAKES. WHEN THE ENG STARTED IT DEVELOPED MORE THAN IDLE RPM. THE ACFT BROKE ONE OF THE TIE DOWN CHAINS AND STARTED A PIVOT TURN AROUND THE OTHER CHAIN AND STRUCK TWO PARKED ACFT BEFORE STOPPING. AC 61-21A STATES, 'IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT AN ENGINE NEVER BE 'HAND PROPPED' UNLESS A QUALIFIED PERSON THOROUGHLY FAMILAR WITH THE OPERATION OF ALL THE CONTROLS IS SEATED AT THE CONTROLS AND THE BRAKES SET. AS A ADDITIONAL PRECAUSTION, CHOCKS SHOULD BE PLACED IN FRONT OF THE MAIN WHEELS. IF THIS IS NOT FEASIBLE, THE AIRPLANE'S TAIL SHOULD BE SECURELY TIED.'
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX86LA227
- Event ID
- 20001213X33603
- Case number
- LAX86LA227
- 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: 07876d599de5d6222f730a7e58db0e2247068692f6d6f43e682eea65367e22e3; retrieved 2026-09-22T01:25:17.656Z.