LAX96LA092 · Classic Aircraft Corp. WACO YMF
Classic Aircraft Corp. WACO YMF and Cessna 172N · Accident: collision between aircraft (not in flight) while taxiing
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's operation. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX96LA092
- 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 Possible conflict
- 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 · Classic Aircraft Corp. WACO YMF
- Aircraft type
- Classic WACO YMF
- 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
- N40115
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole (KOA)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 · from runway
- 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 · Cessna 172N
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 172
- 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
- N734ZC
- Operator
- Barbara L. Clever · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole (KOA)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 · to runway
- 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 › Clearance, not maintained
- Pilot of other aircraft › Clearance, not maintained
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Kailua-Kona, HI, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
A Classic Aircraft Waco YMF, N40115, collided with a Cessna 172N, N734ZC, while taxiing on the Kailua Kona, Hawaii, airport. The Waco was returning from a local area for-hire sightseeing flight. The Cessna 172N was taxiing for takeoff on a local area personal flight. The collision occurred in an area of the airport designated as a non-movement ramp area, which is not under the control or supervision of the FAA Air Traffic Control Tower. In verbal and written statements to responding airport security personnel and FAA inspectors, the pilot of the Waco said he entered the ramp area, which was unusually congested with parked aircraft. The proximity of the parked airplanes limited his ability to S-turn and resulted in limited forward visibility. The pilot reported that he did not see the Cessna in time to avoid the collision. The pilot of the Cessna 172N reported that she completed a run-up and entered the taxi lane on the ramp to proceed to the taxiway. After entering the taxi lane, she observed the Waco coming toward her aircraft and moved as far to the side as she could and stopped the aircraft. The pilot said she did not attempt any radio communications with the Waco. The Waco's left wing strut brace contacted the left wing of the Cessna.
Probable cause
the failure of the Waco pilot to see and avoid the opposite direction Cessna 172 while both aircraft were taxiing in a non-movement area of the airport. Factors in the accident were: the congested nature of the taxi lane, which limited the Waco pilot's ability to perform clearing turns while taxiing; the Waco pilot's restricted forward visibility due to the landing gear configuration and engine cowling size; and the Cessna pilot's failure to attempt radio contact with the Waco when the danger of a collision became apparent.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX96LA092
- Event ID
- 20001207X05040
- Case number
- LAX96LA092
- 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: 52dba43c9d94174b9de91e6987f85839b9040f5093818ab89cb70fd41f840c4e; retrieved 2026-09-22T22:55:30.322Z.