LAX85LA329 · Stinson 108-3
Stinson 108-3 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From L66 · Corona, CA to Borrego Valley Airport (L08)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX85LA329
- 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
Stinson 108-3
- Aircraft type
- Stinson 108
- 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
- N876C
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From L66 · Corona, CATo Borrego Valley Airport (L08), BORREGO VALLEY, 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 · cruise
- 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 exhaustion
- 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 › Exhaustion
- Terrain condition › None suitable
Not plotted · Location withheld: coordinates are missing, conflicting, invalid, or have no accepted acquisition method. No substitute location has been invented.
NTSB narrative
DURING A CROSS COUNTRY PERSONAL FLIGHT, THE AIRCRAFT EXPERIENCED FUEL EXHAUSTION FOR UNDERTERMINED REASONS AND NOSED OVER DURING THE SUBSEQUENT FORCED LANDING IN A SOFT SAND AND SCRUB BRUSH COVERED AREA. PRIOR TO DEPARTURE OF THE FLIGHT (A MEASURED STRAIGHT LINE DISTANCE OF 75 NM) THE PILOT SAID HE CONFIRMED A FUEL QUANTITY OF 37 GALLONS. ACCORDING TO THE PLT, THE FLT WAS AIRBORNE FOR ABOUT 50 MINUTES WHEN THE 'ENGINE QUIT.' DOCUMENTS PRODUCED BY THE PILOT ESTABLISHED THAT 19 GALLONS OF FUEL WERE PURCHASED AT THE DEPARTURE AIRPORT ON THE DAY OF THE ACCIDENT. EXAMINATION OF THE AIRCRAFT AT THE ACCIDENT SITE BY FAA INSPECTORS REVEALED NO FUEL IN THE TANKS AND ONLY ABOUT A TEASPOON FULL IN THE SYSTEM COMPONENTS FORWARD OF THE FIREWALL. THE FAA INSPECTORS REPORTED NO EVIDENCE OF FUEL LEAKAGE OR STAINS ON THE UNDERLYING AND ADJACENT SOIL OR VEGITATION. NO MECHANICAL MALFUNCTIONS WERE IDENTIFIED DURING THE EXAM OF THE POWERPLANT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX85LA329
- Event ID
- 20001214X37181
- Case number
- LAX85LA329
- 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: 5b7eb9c33d559faf2a43983dee2e9309eb53e46bc18e9e01ecda17267c225550; retrieved 2026-09-22T01:44:42.373Z.