WPR17LA214 · SC Aerostar SA YAK 52W
SC Aerostar SA YAK 52W · Accident: loss of control on ground while taxiing
From Gillespie Field (SEE) to Gillespie Field (SEE)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR17LA214
- 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
SC Aerostar SA YAK 52W
- Aircraft type
- SC Aerostar YAK-52
- 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
- N52KF
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Gillespie Field (SEE), El Cajon, CATo Gillespie Field (SEE), El Cajon, CA
- Aircraft age
- About 26 years (built 1991)
- 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
- Taxi
- 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 control on ground
- 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 systems
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
After completing an uneventful preflight inspection, the pilot was unable to start the engine due to low pressure in the pneumatic system. An individual arrived with a tank of air to pressurize the system while the pilot remained in the airplane. The pilot shut off the compressed air supply valve, as required during a pneumatic system recharge; however, the recharge could not be accomplished due to an incorrect adapter. While the individual left to find the correct adapter, another individual offered to help start the engine manually by turning the propeller. After the engine started, the pilot forgot to reopen the compressed air supply valve and, during taxi, the airplane experienced a loss of braking performance that affected its steering capabilities (the steering is accomplished through differential braking, and the brake system requires pneumatic pressure to operate). The pilot was unable to maintain directional control, and the airplane subsequently collided with a fence and sustained substantial damage to the left wing.
The checklist for the make/model airplane does not require the pilot to check the air pressure or valve position during the preflight, engine start, or before takeoff phases.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during taxi after a reduction in braking performance and steering capabilities due to his failure to reopen the air supply valve after the nonstandard engine start.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR17LA214
- Event ID
- 20170923X81050
- Case number
- WPR17LA214
- 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: 7dd39f072341646e01789e223bf08eb7338a05298d48f2ff1e79269a2bbb5028; retrieved 2026-09-16T05:52:31.804Z.