LAX95LA201 · Cessna 180F
Cessna 180F · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering
From Lone Pine, CA to O18 · Hanford, CA
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX95LA201
- 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
Cessna 180F
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 180
- 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
- N2198Z
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Lone Pine, CATo O18 · Hanford, 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Tree(s)
- 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 › Flaps, improper use of
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Cartago, CA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
WHILE FLYING OVER THE SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS, THE PILOT AND PASSENGER NOTED THAT THE SNOW HAD MELTED FROM THE TEMPLETON MEADOWS AIRSTRIP AND THE PILOT DECIDED TO DO A LOW PASS TO CHECK THE SURFACE OF THE AIRSTRIP FOR A POTENTIAL CAMPING TRIP THE NEXT WEEK. THE FOREST SERVICE ACCESS DIRT AIRSTRIP IS IN A MOUNTAIN MEADOW AT 8,700 FEET MSL AND SURROUNDED BY RISING MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN. THE DENSITY ALTITUDE WAS CALCULATED TO BE ABOUT 10,700 FEET. THE PILOT SAID THAT DURING THE LOW PASS OVER THE UNIMPROVED FIELD HE EXPERIENCED A DOWNDRAFT THAT RESULTED IN A 300 FOOT PER MINUTE DESCENT. THE PILOT SAID HE ADJUSTED THE AIRPLANE TO MAXIMUM CLIMB ANGLE TO TRY AND GET A POSITIVE CLIMB RATE AND CLEAR THE RISING TERRAIN IN HIS FLIGHT PATH. AT 300 FEET AGL, THE PILOT DID NOT THINK HE WAS GOING TO BE ABLE TO CLEAR THE MOUNTAINS AHEAD, SO HE ELECTED TO TURN TOWARD AN OPEN AREA TOWARD LOWER GROUND. WHILE EXECUTING THE MANEUVER, THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH A TREE, IMPACTED THE GROUND, AND CAME TO REST INVERTED. ON-SITE EXAMINATION OF THE AIRCRAFT BY A TECHNICAL REP FROM CESSNA AND THE US FOREST SERVICE FOUND THE FLAPS EXTENDED TO 40 DEGREES. THE AIRFRAME AND ENGINE WERE EXAMINED AND NO MECHANICAL FAILURES WERE FOUND.
Probable cause
the pilot's inflight decision to attempt a low pass over a mountain airstrip at a high density alitude atmospheric condition, and, his failure to retract the flaps during the climb-out from the pass. The rising mountainous terrain surrounding the landing strip, downdrafts, and the high density altitude condition were factors in the accident.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX95LA201
- Event ID
- 20001207X03735
- Case number
- LAX95LA201
- 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: 20f4448e2fa3aa2d5e2fdf2c74aed46ed2cdbb008b0322147077398ececa3bd5; retrieved 2026-09-21T13:14:59.816Z.