LAX95LA194 · Aero Commander 500S
Aero Commander 500S and Shaffer WLAC-1 · Accident: collision between aircraft (not in flight) while taxiing
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX95LA194
- 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
- 0 · 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
- General aviation
- 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
Aircraft 1 · Aero Commander 500S
- Aircraft type
- Aero Commander 500
- 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
- N9076N
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (SBA)To McClellan-Palomar Airport (CRQ), PALOMAR, 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 91: General Aviation
- 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
- Taxi
- 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
- Collision between aircraft (not in flight)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Aircraft 2 · Shaffer WLAC-1
- Aircraft type
- Shaffer WLAC-1
- 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
- N101WL
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (SBA)To not recorded
- 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 91: General Aviation
- 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
- Taxi
- 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
- Collision between aircraft (not in flight)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Santa Barbara, CA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
A REVIEW OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL TOWER TAPE TRANSCRIPTS VERIFIED THAT BOTH PILOTS HAD BEEN GIVEN AND ACKNOWLEDGED TAXI CLEARANCES, BUT NEITHER HAD RECEIVED TRAFFIC ADVISORIES REGARDING EACH OTHERS TAXI ROUTES. THE WLAC-1 WAS CLEARED TO TAXI WESTBOUND ON TAXIWAY CHARLIE. THE AERO COMMANDER HAD ALSO BEEN CLEARED TO TAXI ON TAXIWAY CHARLIE AND WAS ENTERING THE TAXIWAY FROM THE RAMP. AS THE AERO COMMANDER MOVED ONTO THE TAXIWAY BOTH AIRCRAFT CONVERGED AND COLLIDED. NEITHER PILOT REPORTED SEEING THE OTHER UNTIL JUST BEFORE THE COLLISION. THE PORTION OF TAXIWAY CHARLIE WHERE THE COLLISION OCCURRED WAS REDESIGNATED A RAMP AREA IN 1986. ACCORDING TO FAA AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL HANDBOOK 7110.65, NON-MOVEMENT AREAS INCLUDING RAMPS ARE NOT UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE TOWER. THE HANDBOOK FURTHER STATES THAT THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR COLLISION AVOIDANCE IN NON-MOVEMENT AREAS IS THAT OF THE PILOT.
Probable cause
the inadequate visual lookout by both pilots and their failures to maintain adequate separation from each other while taxiing in a non-movement area.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX95LA194
- Event ID
- 20001207X03497
- Case number
- LAX95LA194
- 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: 220e2949c50787eae64c9f4cee4d43eaf661ffd138b73c022b445e9c58c0a423; retrieved 2026-09-21T13:16:25.475Z.