LAX02LA050 · Cessna R182
Cessna R182 · Accident: loss of engine power on approach
From Hanford Municipal Airport (HJO) to Santa Maria Public Airport Captain G Allan Hancock Field (SMX)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX02LA050
- 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
- Unknown
- 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 R182
- 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
- N7317X
- Operator
- James Wyatt
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Hanford Municipal Airport (HJO), Hanford, CATo Santa Maria Public Airport Captain G Allan Hancock Field (SMX), Santa Maria, 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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
- Loss of engine power
- 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
- Ignition system, ignition coil › Restricted
- Ignition system, ignition points › Closed
- Ignition system, magneto grounding lead (p-lead) › Not connected
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, adjustment, inadequate
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, inspection, improper
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, recordkeeping, not complied with
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The airplane came to rest inverted after colliding with the airport perimeter fence. While on approach to the airport, the airplane lost engine power and the pilot made a forced landing. Initial inspection revealed that the P-Lead for the dual magneto was not connected to the system properly. The inspection also revealed that the left side magneto timing was 10 degrees after top dead center. The right side magneto timing was within manufacturer's specifications. Further examination revealed that the points on the left side of the magneto were closed rendering the left side inoperative. A functional check of the ignition harness capacitors was conducted. When the ignition harness cover was secured to the magneto the left capacitor was intermittent. With the cover loosened, the left magneto functioned properly. It was noted that TCM SB 662A, replacement of date code affected capacitors, and TCM SB 651, capacitor grounding wire and attaching wire routing, had not been complied with. The magneto was sent to the manufacturer for further examination. The examination revealed that the primary ignition lead wire coil was misrouted from the terminal post to the distributor block. This allowed the wire to become trapped between the case halves when the cover was secured. When the wire was routed properly and bench tested it was found to operate within manufacturer's specifications. Engine logbook entries indicated that 2 weeks prior to the accident the engine would not run on the right magneto. The repair shop work order indicated that the left side points were grounded, rendering the left side of the magneto inoperative. The points were readjusted and the magneto was retimed on both sides. The magneto was returned as serviceable and reinstalled on the engine; however, the problem persisted. The ignition switch and magneto capacitor were replaced, and the right magneto postion P-Lead was repaired. The airplane was returned to service after a ground run revealed no mechancial anomalies.
Probable cause
Inadequate maintenance and inspection of the engine dual magneto that resulted in a loss of engine power during a critical phase of flight, and the subsequent undershoot forced landing in soft terrain.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX02LA050
- Event ID
- 20011227X02451
- Case number
- LAX02LA050
- 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, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2001-12-17.
- API snapshot SHA-256: b3966fa3ba69cadafbc56136a403ee343715b75e58bfd735278111f2d0783b3e; retrieved 2026-09-22T11:15:07.033Z.