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LAX92FA212

1992-05-20 · COTTONWOOD, Arizona, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport P52

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

A FAILURE OF THE STUDENT PILOT TO CONDUCT AN ADEQUATE PRE-FLIGHT INSPECTION TO REMOVE CONTAMINATED FUEL; A FAILURE TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED TO PREVENT AN INADVERTENT STALL. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS AN INADEQUATE ANNUAL INSPECTION OF THE FUEL SYSTEM TO DETECT A LEAKING FUEL CAP, AND INADEQUATE SUPERVISION OF THE FLIGHT BY THE PILOT-INCOMMAND.

Factual narrative

PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT FLIGHT, THE NON-CERTIFICATED STUDENT PILOT FUELED THE AIRPLANE FROM A 5-GALLON CONTAINER WITH AUTOMOTIVE FUEL. HE THEN INVITED A CERTIFICATED PILOT TO ACCOMPANY HIM ON A LOCAL AREA FLIGHT. WITNESSES OBSERVED THE AIRPLANE DEPART AND APPEARED TO CLIMB SLOWLY AT A SLOW AIRSPEED. DURING A LEFT TURN AFTER DEPARTURE, OTHER WITNESS HEARD THE ENGINE RUNNING ROUGH, SPUTTERING, AND THEN QUIT RUNNING. THE AIRPLANE THEN BANKED TO THE RIGHT AND DESCENDED IN A NEAR VERTICAL ATTITUDE, STRIKING A CEDAR TREE AND MOBILE HOME. THE AIRPLANE WAS CONSUMED BY A POST CRASH FIRE. EXAMINATION OF THE LEFT FUEL TANK THAT WAS NOT DAMAGED BY FIRE, REVEALED THE PRESENCE OF OVER A QUART OF WATER. THE INTERIOR FILLER NECK AND FUEL CAP HAD EVIDENCE OF RUST. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1992_LAX92FA212.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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