LAX06FA075 · Beech V35A
Beech V35A · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb
From Blackinton Airport (2CA4) to Borrego Valley Airport (L08)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX06FA075
- 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
- 3 · 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Beech V35A
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 35
- 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
- N7944R
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Blackinton Airport (2CA4), Valley Center, CATo Borrego Valley Airport (L08), Borrego Springs, 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
- 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
- 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, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Stall/spin, encountered
- 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 terrain following a loss of control during the takeoff/initial climb. This airplane was the last of five airplanes that were traveling to another airport for the group's overnight trip. Witnesses heard a loud bang as the airplane reached about 800 feet above ground level (agl). They observed the airplane roll once or twice as the nose went down. The airplane came to rest with the tail in an avocado tree and was largely consumed by fire. Investigators could not establish control continuity due to the extensive mechanical and thermal damage. Investigators disassembled the fuel manifold valve. The screen, interior, and the line going to the pressure gauge had a thin coating of a viscous amber substance that had a strong, foul odor. The most likely source of the residue appeared to be biological contamination of the fuel, based on the major peaks in the gas chromatography with a mass spectrometer detector (GC/MS) spectra for the fatty acids and fatty nitriles having even numbers of carbon atoms. None of the additives or sealants approved by Teledyne Continental Motors appeared in the GC/MS identification, and it did not appear that the compounds identified in the spectra could be simple breakdown or combustion products of the approved additives or sealants. The substance did not clog the valve or screen. The fuel nozzles were open. Investigators found no anomalies that would have prevented normal operation or production of rated power.
Probable cause
the pilot's failure to maintain an adequate airspeed margin following a loss of engine power in the takeoff initial climb, resulting in a stall/spin. While the laboratory tests indicated the presence of an unknown biological contaminant in the fuel manifold valve, the amount of contamination could not be established and thus the underlying reason for the loss of engine power was not determined.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX06FA075
- Event ID
- 20060109X00034
- Case number
- LAX06FA075
- 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: fd7e1ccbef2724c37a0fd8808dddf04d1b8ea9d19b3f52c6b0d3bf4674670619; retrieved 2026-09-20T17:39:23.151Z.