LAX83FA398 · Champion 7GCAA
Champion 7GCAA · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) while maneuvering
From Gillespie Field (SEE) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX83FA398
- 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
Champion 7GCAA
- Aircraft type
- Champion 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
- N100ES
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Gillespie Field (SEE), El Cajon, 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
- Stall
- 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
- Engine assembly › Foreign object damage
- Engine assembly, ring › Failure, partial
- Engine assembly, valve, intake › Fatigue
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, inspection, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Airspeed, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
PRIOR TO DEPARTURE, THE ACFT WAS OBSERVED BEING RUN UP WITH THE ENG SPUTTERING & BACKFIRING QUITE BADLY. THE ACFT RETURNED TO THE HANGER & 3 LOWER PLUGS WERE CHANGED. THE FLT WAS THEN RESUMED. THE ACFT WAS NEXT OBSERVED OFF SHORE, WITH THE ENG SPUTTERING & MISSING, & THE BANNER HAVING BEEN RELEASED. THE ACFT THEN PITCHED UP, STALLED & STRUCK THE WATER. ENG EXAMINATION REVEALED NUMEROUS MECHANICAL DISCREPANCIES. THE #4 EXHAUST VALVE FAILED IN FATIGUE. THE RIGHT EXHAUST FLAME TUBE WAS DETERIORATED & SEPARATED WITH PARTS MISSING WHICH WERE LARGER THAN THE OPENING IN THE EXHAUST MANIFOLD. 4/5 OF THE #2 PISTON CAP SKIRT WAS MISSING. THE #2 SCRAPER RING ON THE #2 PISTON WAS BROKEN IN HALF. THE #4 EXHAUST CAM LOBE WAS WORN TO ABOUT 1/2 ITS NORMAL HEIGHT. THE #4 EXHAUST CAM FOLLOWER FACE WAS CONCAVED & PITTED. THE OIL PUMP HOUSING & GEARS SHOWED SCRATCH MARKS SUGGESTIVE OF METAL CONTANINATION.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX83FA398
- Event ID
- 20001214X44197
- Case number
- LAX83FA398
- 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: 7159e2ffaeb7fc22cc3a3e8feda8692961b1b7b6800a2439e8b983e4db536548; retrieved 2026-09-21T06:18:48.430Z.