WPR14LA257 · Cessna 152
Cessna 152 · Accident during initial climb
From Agua Dulce Airpark (L70) to General William J Fox Airfield (KWJF)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR14LA257
- 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
- N4606L
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Agua Dulce Airpark (L70), Agua Dulce, CATo General William J Fox Airfield (KWJF), Palmdale, CA
- Aircraft age
- About 34 years (built 1980)
- 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
- 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
- Miscellaneous/other
- 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
- Wire
- 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
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, not marked as estimated; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot and pilot-rated passenger had rented the airplane for a cross-country flight and landed at an airport. The left-seat pilot reported that during the takeoff roll, he didn't think the airplane was accelerating fast enough, so he "pulled the power" to abort the takeoff. He reported that at that point, the pilot-rated passenger took the controls, applied full power, and continued the takeoff. The airplane was climbing slowly, but the stall warning horn sounded, and the left-seat pilot thought the airplane was going to stall. He said he took the controls and pushed the nose of the airplane down to increase the airspeed. The main landing gear struck high-voltage power lines crossing their path, and the airplane descended and impacted the terrain, which resulted in substantial damage.
The passenger said she did not remember taking the flight controls. She reported remembering the left-seat pilot "complaining" about the performance during the takeoff, reducing throttle (while still on the ground), and then reapplying power and continuing the takeoff.
The departure runway had a 1.9% uphill slope, and the terrain off the end of the runway was rising. At the time of the accident, the calculated density altitude was 5,004 ft.
An examination of the engine and airframe found no mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. However, the carburetor heat was found in the "on" position, and the flaps were extended to 30°.
It is likely that a combination of full-flap deflection and the high density altitude decreased the airplane's performance and engine horsepower output during takeoff from the upsloping runway, which adversely affected the climb rate.
Probable cause
The pilot's decision to continue the takeoff from the upsloping runway with full-flap deflection in high density altitude conditions, which led to a decreased climb rate and impact with terrain.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR14LA257
- Event ID
- 20140620X83449
- Case number
- WPR14LA257
- 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: fa09d228143328305726512c05bfbc96836fdbb7fa2950d3d5d2ebda02355480; retrieved 2026-09-16T00:24:40.725Z.