LAX86FA069 · Piper PA-24-260
Piper PA-24-260 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport (MYF) to Zamperini Field (TOA)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX86FA069
- 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
Piper PA-24-260
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-24
- 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
- N9044P
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport (MYF), San Diego, CATo Zamperini Field (TOA), TORRENCE, 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 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
- Fluid, fuel › Starvation
- Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, improper
- Pilot in command › Fuel system, improper use of
- Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT CONTACTED COAST TRACON (TERMINAL RADAR CONTROL) & REQUESTED VFR TRAFFIC ADVISORIES TO TORRENCE. AT APRX 0747 PSTHE DECLARED AN EMERGENCY, SAID THE ENG HAD QUIT & REQUESTED VECTORS TO THE JOHN WAYNE/ORANGE COUNTY ARPT. THE CONTROLLERPROVIDED A HDG TO THE ARPT AS WELL AS THE CURRENT WIND & ALTIMETER SETTING. AT 0748, THE CONTROLLER ADVISED THE PLT THATTHE ARPT WAS AT HIS 11 O'CLOCK PSN AT 7 MI & THAT EITHER RWY WAS AVAILABLE FOR LANDING. ABOUT 3 MIN LATER, THE PLT SAID HE DID NOT THINK HE WAS GOING TO REACH THE ARPT. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES, A HOUSE & A FENCE IN A RESIDENTIAL AREA. INITIAL IMPACT WAS WITH TREES AT APRX 35 FT AGL WHILE IN A NOSE HIGH ATTITUDE. AN EXAM REVEALED THE FUEL SELECTOR WAS POSITIONED TO THE RGT MAIN TANK WHICH HAD LESS THAN 1 GAL OF FUEL REMAINING. ADEQUATE FUEL WAS STILL REMAINING IN THE LEFT FUEL TANKS. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE/MALFUNCTION WAS FOUND. THE ENG OPERATED SATISFACTORILY DURING A POST ACCIDENT CHECK.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX86FA069
- Event ID
- 20001214X38429
- Case number
- LAX86FA069
- 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: 9711d7ea7a531cbb1ce913c9248d96245a4e056b059a47f862e5eee846196d3d; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:43:56.085Z.