LAX85FA376 · Cessna T303
Gunnell Aviation Cessna T303 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) while maneuvering
From Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX85FA376
- 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 T303
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 303
- 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
- N6490V
- Operator
- Gunnell Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO), Santa Monica, 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 (mechanical failure)
- 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; Tree(s)
- 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
- Manufacturer › Maintenance, installation, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES DURING A FORCED LANDING FOLLOWING A LOSS OF PWR. THE STUDENT PLT STATED THE FLT WAS NORMAL UNTIL A 'VIOLENT RIGHT YAW' DEVELOPED WHEN THE TROTTLES WERE ADVANCED TO RECOVER FROM A PRACTICE STALL. AS THE CFI TOOK OVER THE CONTROLS AND ATTEPTED RECOVERY A 'SUBSTANTIAL LOSS OF POWER' OCCURRED ON BOTH ENGS. A FORCED LANDING WAS MADE IN A FLD DURING WHICH THE LEFT WING CONTACTED TREES AND THE ACFT WAS ENGULFED IN FLAMES. POST ACCIDENT EXAMINATION OF THE LEFT ENG FAILED TO DISCLOSE ANY DISCREPANCIES. DISCREPANCIES WERE NOTED ON THE RIGHT ENG. 1) THE FUEL CONTROLLER FUEL LINE 'TEE' FITTING WAS CRACKED AROUND 50% OF ITS CIRCUMFERENCE. (DUCTILE OVERLOAD) 2) THE TURBOCHARGER GASKET ON THE INLET SIDE OF THE TURBINE SHOWED LEAKAGE AOUND 70% OF THE GASKET ARE. THE ACFT HAD A HISTORY OF SYMPTOMS OF FUEL VAPORIZATION WHICH SUBSIDED WITH USE OF THE AUX FUEL PUMP AS THE ENG MANUFACTORER SUGGESTS. IT IS UNKNOWN IF THE AUX PUMP WAS USED DURING THIS ACCIDENT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX85FA376
- Event ID
- 20001214X37515
- Case number
- LAX85FA376
- 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 1985-08-31.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 97f13ee89e98066da9e3f9099b6570cedef3e4f03e51c1202d9d5090a73eacd9; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:10:36.407Z.