LAX95GA219 · Douglas C-54G
Douglas C-54G and Beech 58P · Accident: midair collision on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX95GA219
- 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
- 3 · 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 · Douglas C-54G
- Aircraft type
- Douglas C-54
- 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
- N4989P
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Hemet Ryan Airport (HMT), Hemet, CATo L39
- 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
- Public Aircraft
- 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
- Approach
- 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
- Midair collision
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Aircraft 2 · Beech 58P
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 58
- 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
- N156Z
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Ontario International Airport (ONT), Ontario, CATo L39
- 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
- Approach
- 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
- Midair collision
- 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
- Company/operator management › Procedures/directives, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A DOUGLAS C-54G & BEECH 58P WERE ON A FIRE SUPPRESSION MISSION WITH THE USDA FOREST SERVICE. THE C-54 (TANKER 19) WAS BEING USED AS AN AERIAL TANKER, WHILE THE BEECH 58 (LEAD 56) WAS ON A LEAD OPERATION. LEAD 56 DEPARTED THE FIRE AREA ABOUT 5 MINUTES BEFORE TANKER 19. BOTH AIRPLANES PROCEEDED TO AN UNCONTROLLED AIRPORT AT RAMONA,CA, FOR LANDING ON RUNWAY 27 WITH A 360-DEGREE OVERHEAD APPROACH. TANKER 19 WAS ON THE INITIAL APPROACH ABOUT 1 MILE EAST OF THE AIRPORT, WHEN THE TWO PLANES COLLIDED. INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT LEAD 56 STRUCK THE VERTICAL STABILIZER OF TANKER 19, WHILE DESCENDING. THE EMPENNAGES OF BOTH AIRPLANES SEPARATED, & BOTH CRASHED IN UNCONTROLLED DESCENTS. BEFORE THE ACCIDENT, A GRUMMAN S2 PILOT WAS FOLLOWING TANKER 19. WHILE IN A SHALLOW DESCENT TO THE AIRPORT, HE SAW TANKER 19 SLIGHTLY BELOW THE HORIZON & HEARD TANKER 19 MAKE TWO CALLS (AT 8 & 2 MILES ON INITIAL APPROACH). HE ALSO HEARD A TRANSMISSION FROM LEAD 56 MOMENTS BEFORE THE COLLISION, BUT DID NOT SEE LEAD 56, NOR WAS HE WATCHING TANKER 19 WHEN THE COLLISION OCCURRED. INVESTIGATORS WERE UNABLE TO DETERMINE LEAD 56'S ACTIVITIES AFTER DEPARTING THE FIRE AREA. TRANSMISSIONS WERE HEARD FROM LEAD 56 ON THE FOREST SERVICE TACTICAL (OPERATIONS) FREQUENCY WHEN THE PLANE WAS WITHIN 10 MILES OF THE AIRPORT. MOMENTS BEFORE THE COLLISION, LEAD 56 WAS HEARD ON THE AIRPORT'S COMMON TRAFFIC ADVISORY FREQUENCY (CTAF). FOREST SERVICE PROCEDURES REQUIRED THAT ALL PILOTS TRANSMIT THEIR POSITION ON THE CTAF WITHIN 10 MILES OF THE AIRPORT. THE FOREST SERVICE HAD NOT MADE ARRANGEMENTS WITH THE AIRPORT MANAGER TO PERFORM OVERHEAD APPROACHES, NOR WERE PARAMETERS PUBLISHED FOR INITIAL APPROACH ALTITUDE OR AIRSPEED.
Probable cause
INADEQUATE VISUAL LOOKOUT BY THE BEECH 58P PILOT, AND THE OPERATOR'S INADEQUATE PROCEDURES CONCERNING 360-DEGREE OVERHEAD APPROACHES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX95GA219
- Event ID
- 20001207X03733
- Case number
- LAX95GA219
- 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: 26ec9a5680e63976511043dfeb63a7106319a039516166894b4fa7e0f703d65e; retrieved 2026-09-20T23:43:55.112Z.