LAX05LA186 · Classic Aircraft Corp Waco YMF-5
Santa Barbara Biplane Tours Classic Aircraft Corp Waco YMF-5 · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb
From Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (SBA) to Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (SBA)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX05LA186
- 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
Classic Aircraft Corp Waco YMF-5
- Aircraft type
- Classic WACO YMF-5
- 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
- N181AS
- Operator
- Santa Barbara Biplane Tours
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (SBA), Santa Barbara, CATo Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (SBA)
- 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 engine power
- 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
- Ignition system, magneto › Output low
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, improper
- Weather condition › Carburetor icing conditions
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 the ground while attempting a return to runway maneuver following a loss of engine power in the takeoff initial climb. The airplane came to rest in a slough next to the runway. A post accident examination of the airplane and engine was conducted by National Transportation Safety Board investigators. Examination of the magnetos found that the points gap on the right magneto was 0.026 inches and 0.036 inches on the left (the Jacobs R755 A2/B2 Operator's Manual specifies a points gap of 0.010 to 0.014 inches). The right magneto showed signs of points contact burning and of heating due to a lack of periodic oiling. Both magnetos were missing the spring-loaded oil cup at the base of the magneto. Magneto timing to the engine was checked and found to be 36 degrees before Top Dead Center (BTDC) for the right magneto and 27 degrees BTDC for the left magneto (the operator's manual specifies 31 degrees BTDC for both magnetos. Both magnetos were then removed from the engine for a bench check. Both magnetos threw sparks from the rotating cylinder to the housing, but the right magneto sparked excessively (arcing), indicating a possible failed condenser. The left magneto had a strong spark, whereas the right magneto displayed a weak coil, failing as it got warm. During the removal of the spark plugs, it was found that the number 5 spark plug was only finger tight with evidence of exhaust blow-by at the spark plug gasket area. According to a carburetor icing probability chart, at the time of the accident the ambient temperature and dew point were conducive to "Serious Icing at Glide Power." The pilot was on the ground holding at idle for about 15 minutes prior to being given a clearance for takeoff.
Probable cause
a loss of engine power due to carburetor ice aggravated by the poor operating condition of the magnetos and the improper magneto-to-engine timing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX05LA186
- Event ID
- 20050601X00699
- Case number
- LAX05LA186
- 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: 7f1c39d15290624b8e44668b8fc9f37fd369ef64f9848b2860516f0d3732dc6f; retrieved 2026-09-21T19:01:11.953Z.