LAX96LA231 · Vans RV6
Vans RV6 · Accident: abrupt maneuver on approach
From Inyokern Airport (IYK) to Inyokern Airport (IYK)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX96LA231
- 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
Vans RV6
- Aircraft type
- Vans RV6
- 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
- N43BL
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Inyokern Airport (IYK)To Inyokern Airport (IYK)
- 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 · VFR pattern turn to base
- 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
- Abrupt maneuver
- 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
- Stall
- 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 › Airspeed(vs), not maintained
- Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot and pilot rated passenger departed and climbed to 6,500 feet msl, and performed an aileron roll. The pilot returned to the airport and entered the landing traffic pattern. After turning onto the base leg, he decided he needed more room between the airplane and the end of the runway, so he turned away from the runway. During this maneuver, the airplane buffeted and aileron and elevator control were lost. The pilot further reported that he applied full engine power, but the airplane stalled and crashed into the ground. Two witnesses observed the airplane on the base leg, and while maneuvering during its last few seconds of flight. Both of the witnesses estimated that the airplane was not flying higher than 300 feet agl. The witnesses reported seeing the aircraft turn away from the landing runway, enter a steep left bank turn and then turn back toward the runway. Both witnesses stated that during the turn/maneuver the bank angle increased to at least 80 degrees. The airplane appeared to stall and then descend into the terrain. The pilot rated passenger said the pilot pushed the aircraft beyond its' capabilities. The temperature was about 105 degrees Fahrenheit with a density altitude of about 6,000 feet.
Probable cause
the pilot's failure to maintain control of his airplane and stalled while intentionally performing a low altitude maneuver on base leg in a high density altitude environment.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX96LA231
- Event ID
- 20001208X06032
- Case number
- LAX96LA231
- 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: 1ed24b335f1b718b2fbbb38d8d8b7800411201f546eae21ddd9ce04a380bbb16; retrieved 2026-09-21T12:41:37.750Z.