Cessna 150L accident near Pacoima, CA
On September 4, 2018, a Cessna 150L (airplane) was involved in an accident near Pacoima, CA. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- September 4, 2018
- Place
- Pacoima, CA
- Aircraft
- Cessna 150L · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 1 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 34.257°N, 118.409°W
- NTSB ID
- 20180903X35137
Official records · WPR18FA249
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
Air traffic control records
- Record of Memorandum - Air Traffic Control Communications During Accident Sequence: Document (PDF), on ntsb.gov
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn September 3, 2018, about 1710 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 150L airplane, N10789, impacted terrain shortly after takeoff from Whiteman Airport (WHP), Los Angeles, California. The flight instructor was fatally injured, and the passenger was seriously injured. The airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was registered to N10789 LLC and was being operated by Rotor F/X as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 local discovery flight. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control recording, about 50 seconds after the airplane was cleared for takeoff on runway 12, the instructor stated, "Whiteman tower N10789 needs to turn back." The tower controller then cleared the airplane to land on runway 12; no further communications were received from the instructor. Several witnesses saw the airplane after it departed WHP. One witness reported that the engine sounded abnormal, "like it was sputtering." Another witness reported seeing the airplane "at a very low altitude" and descending rapidly and the wings "dipping side to side." Subsequently, the airplane rolled left when the engine stopped and entered a spiraling turn. The airplane impacted the overhang of a building before it descended to the concrete coming to rest inverted. The witnesses went to the wreckage site and attempted to assist the occupants. One of the witnesses extinguished a small oil fire in the engine area and noted that no fuel was leaking from the airplane; another witness confirmed that there was no fuel leakage or smell of aviation fuel. The passe
Probable cause
A loss of engine power shortly after takeoff due to fuel exhaustion, and the exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack when the flight instructor made an abrupt turn back toward the runway, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall/spin at an altitude too low for recovery. Contributing to the accident was an inadequate preflight inspection.
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Browse: California · Cessna aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
