LAX08CA143 · Mason RV-9A
Mason RV-9A · Accident: loss of engine power (partial) on approach
From Aurora State Airport (UAO) to Pacific City State Airport (PFC)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX08CA143
- 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
Mason RV-9A
- Aircraft type
- Mason RV-9
- 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
- N486EM
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Aurora State Airport (UAO), Aurora, ORTo Pacific City State Airport (PFC), Pacific City, OR
- 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
- Defining eventThe 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 (partial)
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Personnel issues › Task performance
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 was on final approach in the traffic pattern, when the pilot noticed it was descending too fast. He attempted to increase the engine rpm by pushing the throttle forward. The engine did not respond as he expected, with no increase in rpm occurring from the throttle movement, until just prior to touchdown. The airplane touched down hard on the runway surface, subsequently bouncing back airborne. The airplane touched down again and the pilot experienced a loss of control. The nose landing gear collapsed and the airplane continued to skid; it came to rest inverted. A Meteorological Terminal Aviation Routine Weather Report (METAR) indicated a temperature of 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit, a dewpoint of 59 degrees Fahrenheit, and a relative humidity of 88 percent. According to a carburetor icing probability chart, these conditions are conducive for serious icing at glide power.
Probable cause
The pilot's inadequate flare and failure to maintain control following a hard landing. Contributing to the accident was a temporary partial loss of power due to carburetor icing conditions.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX08CA143
- Event ID
- 20080613X00864
- Case number
- LAX08CA143
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: b130a99a8b08ac713b526684ce27d69577e6dbdcd9df3d5b05287886f53ea799; retrieved 2026-09-15T09:46:23.885Z.