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LAX97LA200 · Moravan Z242L

5 Jun 1997 · JEAN, NV, United States

Aerobatic School of Las Vegas Moravan Z242L and Beech E35 · Accident: collision between aircraft (not in flight) while taxiing

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Event

NTSB case
LAX97LA200
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 · Moravan Z242L

Aircraft type
Moravan Z242
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
N7ZA
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From 0L7To 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

Aircraft 2 · Beech E35

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 35
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
N7354B
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From 0L7To 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
Minor

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Brakes(normal), not available
  • Pilot in command › Lack of familiarity with aircraft
  • Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Brakes(normal), not available
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Lack of familiarity with aircraft
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

The purpose of the flight was to take aerial photograph's of the Moravan Z242L, N7ZA, from the Beech E35, N7354B, with the Moravan as the lead plane on takeoff. The pilot of the Moravan announced his intentions over Unicom and proceeded to taxi. The pilot of the Moravan noticed the Beech had begun to pull forward and that there appeared to be no braking action from the other pilot. Prior to the taxi, the cameraman in the Beech asked to sit in the left seat. The pilot moved the control yoke over to the right side and visually checked the right side rudder pedals and ascertained that they looked capable for braking because of the similar appearance to the left side rudder pedals. Prior to the accident, the pilot of the Beech had attended a 2-hour seminar for this aircraft and no brake idiosyncrasies had been mentioned. After engine start, as he was looking at the checklist, the pilot noticed that his aircraft was moving forward. He attempted to stop the aircraft before it collided with the Moravan, but was unable to make the brakes function. There are no brakes installed on the right side rudder pedals of the Beech.

Probable cause

The pilot of the Beech E35, N7354, inadequate preflight planning/preparation and lack of familiarity with the aircraft which led to his attempt to taxi from a seat without brake controls.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX97LA200
Event ID
20001208X08166
Case number
LAX97LA200
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: 392990d07c0e15306b23f106bc0accd21f09f27feb096652c1877292402d99fc; retrieved 2026-09-22T19:30:18.931Z.