LAX94FA292 · Cessna 414
Cessna 414 · Accident: dragged wing, rotor, pod, float or tail/skid during initial climb
From L17 to Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT)
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's location. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX94FA292
- 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
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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
Cessna 414
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 414
- 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
- N414RH
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From L17To Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT), Fresno, CA
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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
- Initial climb
- First occurrenceThe 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
- Dragged wing, rotor, pod, float or tail/skid
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Wrong runway, selected
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE (EMS/MEDEVAC) FLIGHT WAS DISPATCHED TO TRANSPORT A PATIENT IN RESPONSE TO A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. DURING ARRIVAL TO THE DESTINATION, THE PILOT CONTACTED THE AIRPORT UNICOM FOR ADVISORIES AND WAS ADVISED TO LAND ON RUNWAY 25. RUNWAY 25 HAD A 2.2 PERCENT UPHILL GRADE AND WAS RESTRICTED TO LANDINGS ONLY. AFTER LANDING, THE AIRPLANE WAS REFUELED AND THE PATIENT WAS PUT ON BOARD. THE PILOT BACK-TAXIED ON RUNWAY 25 AND PROCEEDED TO TAKEOFF UPHILL WITH THE AIRPLANE NEAR ITS MAXIMUM GROSS WEIGHT. ACCORDING TO GROUND WITNESSES, THERE WAS A TAILWIND, WHICH THEY ESTIMATED WAS BETWEEN 4 AND 15 KNOTS. THE TEMPERATURE WAS ABOUT 100 DEGREES, AND THE DENSITY ALTITUDE WAS ABOUT 3200 FEET. AFTER THE AIRPLANE BECAME AIRBORNE, THE PILOT STARTED AN IMMEDIATE LEFT TURN TO AVOID RISING TERRAIN. HOWEVER, THE LEFT TIP TANK CONTACTED THE GROUND, AND THE AIRPLANE CARTWHEELED. IT CAME TO REST ABOUT 711 FEET FROM THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY. THE FLAPS AND LANDING GEAR WERE FOUND FULLY EXTENDED; THE PUBLISHED CONFIGURATION FOR TAKEOFF DATA IN THE FLIGHT MANUAL WAS FOR 'WING FLAPS - UP.' THE AIRPORT HAD NO SIGNS TO INDICATE RUNWAY USE RESTRICTIONS; HOWEVER, THE RESTRICTIONS WERE PUBLISHED IN THE AIRPORT FACILITY DIRECTORY.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PLANNING/PREPARATION AND SELECTION OF THE WRONG RUNWAY FOR TAKEOFF. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE UPHILL SLOPE OF THE RUNWAY, TAILWIND, HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE, AND FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO CORRECTLY CONFIGURE THE FLAPS FOR TAKEOFF.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX94FA292
- Event ID
- 20001206X01769
- Case number
- LAX94FA292
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
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. 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: ca59aaea262b566721f6b6012f57189d348dfe43886a87212bc619e8501dc85d; retrieved 2026-09-18T13:48:41.075Z.