LAX04CA173 · Piper PA34-200
Piper PA34-200 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Brackett Field (KPOC) to Brackett Field (KPOC)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX04CA173
- 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
Piper PA34-200
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA34
- 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
- N74SA
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Brackett Field (KPOC), La Verne, CATo Brackett Field (KPOC), La Verne, 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
- 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
- Stall/mush
- 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
- 1 engine › Loss, total
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Airspeed, not maintained
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Directional control, not maintained
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Fuel supply, restricted
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Fuel tank selector position, not corrected
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 terrain while the pilot was attempting a go-around during a multiengine training flight. The certified flight instructor (CFI) turned the right engine fuel selector to the "off" position, in an effort to simulate an engine failure. The student followed the proper procedure by correctly identifying the failed engine and flew the airplane accordingly. On short final, about 100 feet above ground level, the airplane was high and not properly aligned with the runway. The CFI opted to make a go-around, and the student inputted full throttle on both engines. The student was unable to maintain airspeed and establish a positive rate of climb. The CFI communicated that he would take over the controls, and attempted to continue the go-around. The airplane would not climb and drifted to the right, across another runway. The airplane continued in a gradual decent, and the stall warning horn sounded. The right wing impacted terrain, and the airplane spun around on the ground. The CFI stated that he had become distracted, and did not remember to turn the fuel selector back to the "on" position after the student had identified the failed engine. He thought this was the reason that the right engine did not respond to the throttle input during the go-around. The CFI reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane.
Probable cause
the CFI 's failure to correctly reconfigure the right engine fuel selector, resulting in a total loss of power to that engine. Also causal was the CFI's failure to maintain direction control of the airplane and an adequate airspeed, which led to the airplane stalling and colliding with terrain. A factor in the accident was the CFI's diverted attention.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX04CA173
- Event ID
- 20040427X00517
- Case number
- LAX04CA173
- 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: cb225321d3f212abf9fef5ac5ef7c494e3118ec993c064e438e9b9802745b68a; retrieved 2026-09-22T07:47:37.929Z.