LAX04LA322 · Wolf Glassair IIS
Wolf Glassair IIS · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From Falcon Field (KFFZ) to Falcon Field (KFFZ)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX04LA322
- 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
- 2 · 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
Wolf Glassair IIS
- Aircraft type
- Wolf GLASSAIR IIS
- 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
- N110UX
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Falcon Field (KFFZ), Mesa, AZTo Falcon Field (KFFZ), Mesa, 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
- 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
- Partial 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/spin
- 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 › Airspeed(vs), not maintained
- 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
Immediately after takeoff the experimental category airplane climbed to 100 feet, rolled left, and collided with terrain. The airplane took off, was airborne by mid field, and climbed to about 100 feet. After the initial climb it did not appear to be climbing or accelerating normally. Some witnesses reported that the engine did not sound good and described engine noise fluctuations. About this time, the pilot transmitted to the local controller that he was declaring an emergency and needed to return for landing. The controller cleared the flight to land on any runway. The airplane then rolled to the left and impacted the ground inverted. The airplane had just completed an annual inspection and was undergoing a post maintenance check flight with the pilot and a mechanic onboard. Components that were replaced or overhauled during the annual inspection included the engine driven fuel pump, the fuel filter, and the supercharger. A post impact ground fire destroyed many engine components, including those that were replaced at the annual, and consumed the composite airframe. The propeller exhibited evidence of leading edge polishing, torsional twisting, and chordwise striations. Examination of the wreckage found no evidence of a preimpact malfunction or failure of the control system or powerplant.
Probable cause
a partial loss of power for undetermined reasons, and, the failure of the pilot to maintain an adequate airspeed while maneuvering for a forced landing that resulted in a stall and a collision with terrain.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX04LA322
- Event ID
- 20040929X01530
- Case number
- LAX04LA322
- 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: 5fe64b853b298c189e4b15c716e18a68b91f11c3773f60f41e838291190b7fca; retrieved 2026-09-20T18:20:17.985Z.