LAX83LA219 · Cessna 182P
Cessna 182P · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX83LA219
- 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 182P
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 182
- 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
- N21579
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo 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
- 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
- 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 contamination
- 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 › Water
- Fuel system, tank › Inadequate
- Manufacturer › Acft/equip, inadequate design
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING THE PREVIOUS 7 MOS, THE ACFT HAD BEEN FLOWN ONLY ABOUT 2.5 HRS & HAD BEEN PARKED OUTDOORS WHEN NOT IN USE. ANTICIPATING THE FLT, THE STUDENT PLT & HER HUSBAND HAD STARTED THE ENGINE TO MAKE SURE THE BATTERY WAS OPERATIONAL. THE INSTRUCTOR PLT REPORTED THAT PRIOR TO THE FLT, THE SUMPS WERE DRAINED & FUEL SAMPLES WERE EXAMINED, BUT NO WATER OR OTHER CONTAMINATION WAS FOUND. REPORTEDLY, THE ENG FUNCTIONED NORMALLY DURING START, TAXI & THE 'BEFORE TAKEOFF' CHECK & HAD BEEN OPERATING APRX 15 MIN BEFORE COMMENCING THE TAKEOFF. HOWEVER, WHILE CLIMBING THRU APRX 300 FT AGL, THE ENG SUDDENLY LOST POWER. DURING A FORCED LANDING ROLL-OUT, THE ACFT HIT A LEVEE & WAS DAMAGED. AN EXAMINATION OF THE ACFT REVEALED WATER IN THE FUEL SYS. A MECHANIC ESTIMATED OVER 1/2 PINT IN THE CARBURETOR, APRX 1 PINT DRAINED FROM THE RIGHT TANK & APRX 1/2 PINT DRAINED FROM THE LEFT TANK. THE FUEL CAP O-RINGS WERE FOUND WORN & WOULD ALLOW WATER TO SEEP THRU. ALSO, WRINKLES RISING APRX 3/8 INCH WERE FOUND IN THE BOTTOMS OF THE FUEL TANK BLADDERS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX83LA219
- Event ID
- 20001214X43036
- Case number
- LAX83LA219
- 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: ac34ec99b8eeb8d4f1277cf1ecb75bdf59e37eae88369ea511ce3212c837232a; retrieved 2026-09-22T02:41:35.537Z.