LAX83FA012 · Beech C-45H
Beech C-45H · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From Taft, CA to Taft, CA
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX83FA012
- 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
- 14 · 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
Beech C-45H
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft C-45
- 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
- N403SE
- Operator
- M.H. Yarter
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Taft, CATo Taft, 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
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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
- Pilot in command › Aircraft weight and balance, exceeded
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Taft, CA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE AIRCRAFT WAS ON A LOCAL FLIGHT INVOLVING A PARACHUTE JUMPING ACTIVITY. IN ADDITION TO THE PILOT, THERE WERE 12 PARACHUTISTS AND AN OBSERVER ON BOARD. THE PILOT INITIATED HIS TAKEOFF ON RUNWAY 18. A WITNESS STATED THAT SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, THE ENGINE POWER WAS REDUCED TO CLIMB POWER, FOLLOWED BY THE GEAR RETRACTION. REPORTEDLY, THE AIRCRAFT HAD CLIMBED TO ABOUT 150 FT AGL WHEN THE NOSE PITCHED UP, TH PLANE ROLLED TO THE LEFT AND THEN IT CRASHED IN A STEEP LEFT BANK, NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE AIRCRAFT WAS LOADED WELL BEYOND ITS MAXIMUM GROSS WEIGHT AND AFT CG LIMITS. THE AMOUNT OF FUEL ON BOARD WAS NOT VERIFIED, BUT EVEN WITH NO FUEL, THE PLANE WOULD HAVE BEEN ABOUT 580 LBS OVER THE MAXIMUM LIMIT. WITH 100 GALLONS, THE ESTIMATED GROSS WEIGHT WOULD HAVE BEEN ABOUT 9939 LBS WITH THE CG AT ABOUT 121 INCHES. THE MAXIMUM CERTIFICATED GROSS WEIGHT WAS 8750 LBS WITH AN AFT CG LIMIT OF 117.6 INCHES. EXTENSIVE GROUND FIRE DAMAGE, BUT NO PREIMPACT, MECHANICAL DISCREPANCIES EVIDENT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX83FA012
- Event ID
- 20020917X04782
- Case number
- LAX83FA012
- 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: bde1b280a68ecfb9e95d6ef1c9f6a1ece84d72c4772c1cbe4748f56076a2f485; retrieved 2026-09-21T07:39:51.378Z.