- Date
- January 21, 1990, 15:48 local (23:48 UTC)
- Place
- Palos Verdes, CA
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N7654BBellanca 14-19-2
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 29, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900121000889A
- Case key
- 26724
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Loss of engine power for undetermined reasons.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The plt was receiving radar advisories from lax TRACON. He reported the engine lost total power. Unable to restart the engine, the plt ditched the airplane in the pacific ocean. All of the occupants were rescued by a fishing boat before the airplane sank. Neither the airplane nor the engine was recovered. The plt reported that the engine power loss appeared to be fuel related. The airplane had 31 gallons of fuel when it departed and was about 12 minutes into the flight when the power loss occurred. The maintenance logbooks revealed that the engine had been disassembled and inspected due to a prop strike. It had been reinstalled on the airplane about 1 month before the accident. An overhauled engine driven fuel pump was also installed at the time the engine was reinstalled on the airplane. The airplane accrued about 31 flight hours since the engine was reinstalled.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7654B
- Reported as
- Bellanca 14-19-2
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 4005
- Airframe hours
- 2,820
- Engine
- Continental O-470, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Brown, Jerry, doing business as Allied Air Charter
- Registered owner
- Bronn, Gerald B.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · December 13, 1989 · 31 hours before
- Departed
- AVX · Catalina, CA
- Destination
- SMO · Santa Monica, CA
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 53
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 7,000 total · 303 in this make and model · 7,000 as pilot in command · 46 in the last 90 days · 27 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 80° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 25 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- LAX, 12 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.