LAX06LA230 · Cessna 152
Cessna 152 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb
From Whiteman Airport (WHP) to Whiteman Airport (WHP)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX06LA230
- 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
Cessna 152
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 152
- 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
- N25512
- Operator
- Natividad Flores
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Whiteman Airport (WHP), Los Angeles, CATo Whiteman Airport (WHP), Los Angeles, 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
- Partial 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
- Ignition system, ignition harness › Not installed
- Ignition system, spark plug › Loose
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, installation, improper
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 nosed over during an off airport forced landing following a loss of engine power in the takeoff initial climb. The student and certified flight instructor (CFI) departed on runway 14 for pattern work, and made a full stop landing. They taxied back, and took off again. About 150 feet above ground level (agl), the engine lost a little power. They turned back toward the airport. During the turn the engine lost more power, and the airplane could not maintain altitude. The CFI took control, and elected to land in a dry pond. The airplane touched down good, but the nose wheel dug into the soft dirt, and the airplane nosed over. Examination revealed that none of the ignition leads were connected to the top spark plugs. The number 3 cylinder top plug was missing with oil on the upper cowling above the hole, and the top spark plugs for the remaining cylinders were loose, with most only engaged by one or two threads. Two hours prior to the accident flight, a mechanic performed work, including installation of a new left magneto and new spark plugs.
Probable cause
a loss of engine power due to the failure of maintenance personnel to tighten the top spark plugs, and install the leads for the ignition harness to the top spark plugs.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX06LA230
- Event ID
- 20060803X01081
- Case number
- LAX06LA230
- 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: 9ecde491d36a7a9070e894ca275c93ca1ebe23815b7e9e56feea5dc413336ef1; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:43:38.724Z.