LAX93FA112 · Cessna 414
Cessna 414 · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From Juwata International Airport / Suharnoko Harbani AFB (TRK) to Four Corners Regional Airport (FMN)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX93FA112
- 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
- 4 · 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Cessna 414
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 414
- 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
- N711LT
- Operator
- Means, Gary L. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Juwata International Airport / Suharnoko Harbani AFB (TRK)To Four Corners Regional Airport (FMN), Farmington, NM
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › IFR procedure, not followed
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, poor
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Truckee, CA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
A CESSNA 414 COLLIDED WITH A TREE IN A MOUNTAINOUS RESIDENTIAL AREA ABOUT 1 MILE FROM THE AIRPORT. INSTRUMENT METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS WITH 1/8 MILE VISIBILITY PREVAILED AND AN INSTRUMENT FLIGHT RULES (IFR) FLIGHT PLAN WAS FILED, BUT WAS NOT OPENED. THE AIRPLANE DEPARTED UNDER VISUAL FLIGHT RULES. THE ELEVATION OF THE COLLISION WAS ABOUT 100 FEET HIGHER THAN THE AIRPORT. THE STANDARD INSTRUMENT DEPARTURE PROCEDURES FOR THE AIRPORT PRESCRIBE TAKEOFF MINIMUMS OF 3,500 FOOT CEILING AND 3 MILES VISIBILITY. THE PROCEDURE REQUIRES A MINIMUM CLIMB RATE OF 425 FEET PER NAUTICAL MILE, A RIGHT TURN AFTER TAKEOFF TO INTERCEPT A 002 DEGREE RADIAL OFF A VOR, AND A CLIMB TO A SPECIFIED ALTITUDE. THE AIRMAN'S INFORMATION MANUAL RECOMMENDS THAT PILOTS CLIMB TO 400 FEET AGL BEFORE TURNING WHEN EXECUTING STANDARD INSTRUMENT DEPARTURE UNDER IFR. THE AIRPLANE WAS ALSO DETERMINED TO BE ABOUT 400 POUNDS OVER MAXIMUM GROSS WEIGHT AT THE TIME OF THE TAKEOFF. THE WRECKAGE EXAMINATION DISCLOSED NO EVIDENCE OF ANY PRE EXISTING AIRCRAFT OR ENGINE MALFUNCTIONS OR FAILURES.
Probable cause
THE DECISION OF THE PILOT NOT TO FOLLOW INSTRUMENT FLIGHT RULE PROCEDURES DURING INSTRUMENT METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS AND POOR PREFLIGHT PLANNING WHICH RESULTED IN OPERATION OF THE AIRPLANE OVER THE MAXIMUM GROSS WEIGHT AND REDUCED PERFORMANCE. FACTORS IN THE ACCIDENT WERE THE FOGGY WEATHER CONDITIONS, AND HIGH TERRAIN.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX93FA112
- Event ID
- 20001211X11834
- Case number
- LAX93FA112
- 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: d205aea60fddf3d276b0036bd7eaf38c25857f082cfbf7e3557b47bdb010c2b7; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:42:35.852Z.