Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Moorpark, California 93021
Wednesday, July 9, 2008 16:46 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While performing air work during the instructional flight, the student attempted to increase engine power above idle, but upon pushing the throttle control knob forward, the engine's power did not increase. The certified flight instructor (CFI) verified that there was no change in engine power with movement of the throttle control, and he believed that the control had likely become disconnected from the carburetor. The CFI performed a forced landing on the nearby rough terrain. During landing, the airplane impacted a berm and nosed over. An examination of the airplane revealed the throttle control cable was in fact disconnected from its respective carburetor attachment fitting and undamaged. Also, the threaded portion of the cable's attachment end was found without damage. The jam nuts, which normally secure the throttle cable to the carburetor attachment fitting, were found tight against each other, but backed off from their designated location, and were not positioned close enough to the rod end to secure the cable to the carburetor throttle arm. The operator's mechanics were responsible for, and had performed, recent maintenance and inspections of the flight school's airplane. The accident airplane's last 100-hour inspection had been performed on July 3, 2008, 6 days prior to the accident. The security and condition of the engine control connections to the carburetor are part of this inspection.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A partial loss of engine power due to the disconnection of the throttle control cable from the throttle arm due to the operator's improper maintenance. Contributing to the accident was unsuitable terrain for a forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/9/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1646 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Moorpark |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93021 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 341507N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1185045W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1555 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 220 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KCMA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 77 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 13 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.76 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 25753 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 9 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 21 2009 4:47PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Van Nuys, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9627B |
| NTSB Number | LAX08LA221 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 172RG |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 172RG0928 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2650 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 3 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 15484 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Ameriflyers of California, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 16151 Addison Rd. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Addison |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 75001 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SMO |
| Departure City | SANTA MONICA |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1515 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | SMO |
| Destination City | Santa Monica |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 21 2009 4:47PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |