LAX04LA069 · Allison KR-2
Allison KR-2 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) on approach
From Las Cruces International Airport (LRU) to Glendale Municipal Airport (GEU)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX04LA069
- 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
Allison KR-2
- Aircraft type
- Allison KR-2
- 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
- N82KR
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Las Cruces International Airport (LRU), Las Cruces, NMTo Glendale Municipal Airport (GEU), Glendale, AZ
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
- 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
- Fuel system, carburetor › Loose part/bolt/nut/clamp/etc
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot made a forced landing in an open field a ½-mile short of his destination airport, following a loss of engine power on final approach. The experimental airplane came to rest inverted after the main landing gear dug into the plowed field. The pilot indicated that the engine performed fine throughout the flight until he pulled the power to idle on final approach and the engine lost power. An attempt to re-start the engine was unsuccessful. During a post-accident engine examination and ground run, the engine ran rough and when the throttle was reduced to the idle position the engine lost total power. FAA inspectors noted that the power jet needle in the carburetor had very little tension, and was backed out of its position by three full turns. Using the engine's maintenance manual, the power jet needle was readjusted. The engine was then ground run with no discrepancies noted. According to the airplanes operating limitations a condition inspection shall be conducted every 12-calendar months. The aircraft's last condition inspection took place over 14 months prior to the accident.
Probable cause
loss of engine power due to a loose carburetor jet. A contributing factor was the owner/operators failure to have a condition inspection performed on the aircraft.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX04LA069
- Event ID
- 20040122X00096
- Case number
- LAX04LA069
- 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: 3dd67b27c1b1cf8b686f6706cac51bc9ef8e936ff8049a09de66894a0618ce2a; retrieved 2026-09-21T09:20:12.433Z.