LAX93LA265 · Culver LCA
Culver LCA · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during takeoff
From San Luis County Regional Airport (SBP) to San Luis County Regional Airport (SBP)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX93LA265
- 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
Culver LCA
- Aircraft type
- Culver LCA
- 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
- N29396
- Operator
- Chris T. Bevan · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From San Luis County Regional Airport (SBP)To San Luis County Regional Airport (SBP)
- 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
- Takeoff · roll/run
- 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
- Loss of control on ground/water
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Lift-off, premature
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT SAID HE WAS PICKING UP THE AIRCRAFT, WHICH HIS FATHER IN LAW HAD JUST PURCHASED, AND WAS GOING TO FLY IT TO WASHINGTON STATE. THE PILOT NOTED THAT HE INTENDED TO STAY IN THE TRAFFIC PATTERN TO DO SEVERAL TAKEOFFS AND LANDINGS PRIOR TO PROCEEDING ON THE DELIVERY FLIGHT. THE RESPONDING FAA INSPECTOR REPORTED THAT THE PILOT'S LAST TAIL WHEEL AIRCRAFT EXPERIENCE WAS IN 1985, AND, AT THAT TIME, HIS TOTAL TAIL WHEEL EXPERIENCE WAS 250 HOURS. GROUND WITNESSES TO THE ACCIDENT REPORTED THAT THE AIRCRAFT BECAME AIRBORNE AFTER A GROUND ROLL OF ABOUT 600 FEET AND IMMEDIATELY YAWED AND ROLLED TO THE LEFT. THE AIRCRAFT COLLIDED WITH THE GROUND ADJACENT TO THE RUNWAY. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT DURING THE TAKEOFF GROUND ROLL ON RUNWAY 29 HE LOOKED DOWN AT THE AIRSPEED INDICATOR, AND, WHEN HE LOOKED UP AGAIN, THE AIRCRAFT HAD LIFTED OFF AND WAS ROLLING TO THE LEFT. THE PILOT STATED THAT HE COULD NOT CORRECT THE ROLL IN TIME TO PREVENT A NOSE DOWN COLLISION WITH THE GROUND. THE WINDS AT THE TIME WERE REPORTED BY THE CONTROL TOWER AT 300 DEGREES AT 18 KTS.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE AIRCRAFT DURING TAKEOFF. A FACTOR IN THE ACCIDENT WAS THE PILOT'S LACK OF RECENT FLIGHT EXPERIENCE IN TAIL WHEEL AIRCRAFT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX93LA265
- Event ID
- 20001211X12661
- Case number
- LAX93LA265
- 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: 7b13a12ca280dc81afb22267ee873d5f7194d5f300ede930ca7f4192c4043b64; retrieved 2026-09-23T01:56:52.551Z.