LAX98LA253 · Yakovlev YAK-55M
Yakovlev YAK-55M and Atkin Air Cessna 172M · Accident: midair collision on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX98LA253
- 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 · Yakovlev YAK-55M
- Aircraft type
- Yakovlev YAK-55
- 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
- N910RT
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From LHMTo 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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
- Substantial
Aircraft 2 · Cessna 172M
- 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
- N4451R
- Operator
- Atkin Air
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From LHMTo 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- 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
Both aircraft collided on short final approach to the runway. Examination of both aircraft disclosed that the Yak-55M descended on top of the Cessna 172 while over the threshold. The pilot of the Yak-55M stated that he was returning to the field after practicing aerobatic maneuvers and entered left traffic for runway 15 by crossing over the runway at midfield. As he overflew the runway he heard an aircraft call on final approach for runway 15 over the CTAF. He observed an aircraft on a 1/2-mile final and followed that aircraft on a short turning base to final approach. As he rolled out on final and prepared to flare, he felt the collision with an unseen aircraft. The pilot of the Cessna 172 stated that he was in the traffic pattern practicing takeoffs and landings. He said that he called on the CTAF number three for landing behind a Cessna 150 and extended his pattern slightly to allow time for that aircraft to clear the runway. The pilot also reported that he announced his position while on base and final approach. Just as he was flaring the aircraft, he felt a jolt and the aircraft was forced down onto the runway. The pilot of a Cessna 150 in the pattern behind the Cessna 172 stated that he was on downwind when the Yak-55M crossed over the field and cut him off while turning on downwind. The witness reported that the Yak-55M nearly hit his aircraft.
Probable cause
The pilot's inadequate visual lookout.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX98LA253
- Event ID
- 20001211X10890
- Case number
- LAX98LA253
- 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: 09a1a0881f8f1c4d8358d3e5076c892b5484ae4b3bface560af1e1b4d9cb8741; retrieved 2026-09-22T17:16:17.680Z.