LAX03LA132 · Deer/Reffalt BD
Deer/Reffalt BD · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Metz Airport (3CA7) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX03LA132
- 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
Deer/Reffalt BD
- Aircraft type
- Deer/reffalt BD
- 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
- N4365K
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Metz Airport (3CA7), Greenfield, 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
- 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
- Wire, static
- 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
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
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 collided with power lines during a forced landing following a loss of engine power. The pilot reported that as he was returning to the airport, the engine lost power. He applied carburetor heat, and the engine power increased for about 30 seconds, then lost power again. This series of power loss/restoration happened three times. The engine did not cough, sputter, or make any metallic sounds. During the ensuing forced landing, the airplane collided with power lines. The airplane came to rest vertically along side of agricultural shipping containers. An NTSB investigator examined the airplane, and selected the right main tank on the fuel selector valve. Recovery personnel plumbed a remote fuel tank into the right main tank fuel line. They bled the fuel system, and drained fuel into a clear glass bottle. The investigator observed no solid contaminants or water in the drained fuel. He detected no loose fuel lines, and observed no fuel stains or leaks. He blew into the vent line from the header tank, and uncontaminated fuel exited through the other end of the tube. The wreckage was secured to a trailer, and the engine was started. The rpm was increased to 1,800. A magneto check was performed, and the investigator observed a smooth 50-rpm drop on each magneto. The engine idled at 550 rpm.
Probable cause
The loss of engine power during cruise flight for undetermined reasons.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX03LA132
- Event ID
- 20030411X00489
- Case number
- LAX03LA132
- 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, coordinates. 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: 34ef171bd02e0d279cd2fd1aae4d7817e8147378ca21f4394e6d9424517a04c0; retrieved 2026-09-21T19:30:45.277Z.