Air Nevada Airlines Flight 83
Cessna 402C · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) to Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX93FA287
- 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
- 3 · 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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
Cessna 402C
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 402
- 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
- N818AN
- Operator
- Air Nevada Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Harry Reid International Airport (LAS)To Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN), Grand Canyon, AZ
- 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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/spin
- 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(vmc), not maintained
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Las Vegas, NV, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT HAD A 25 MIN TURNAROUND FOR THE ACCIDENT TRIP FROM THE PRIOR FLIGHT. NO WITNESSES WERE FOUND WHO OBSERVED THE PILOT PREPARING FOR THE FLIGHT OR PERFORMING A PREFLIGHT INSPECTION. COMPANY PROCEDURES SPECIFY THAT THE PILOTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR LOADING AND UNLOADING THE BAGGAGE. THE MANIFEST FOR THE PRIOR FLIGHT SHOWED 54 LBS OF BAGGAGE IN THE NOSE COMPARTMENT. SHORTLY AFTER LIFTOFF, THE PILOT TOLD THE LOCAL CONTROLLER THAT THE BAGGAGE DOOR WAS OPEN AND HE REQUESTED A 'GO AROUND.' THE LOCAL CONTROLLER TOLD THE PILOT TO MAKE RIGHT TRAFFIC. MULTIPLE WITNESSES SAW THE AIRPLANE IN A NOSE HIGH ATTITUDE DURING THE INITIAL CLIMB AFTER TAKEOFF. THEY REPORTED THE PILOT ENTERED A RIGHT TURN WHICH CONTINUED UNTIL THE AIRPLANE 'FELL TO THE GROUND AND HIT NOSE FIRST.' AN AIRLINE PILOT WITNESS SAID THAT THE AIRPLANE'S ACTIONS WERE A 'CLASSIC VMC ROLL.' OTHER WITNESSES REPORTED THAT THE LEFT NOSE BAGGAGE COMPARTMENT DOOR WAS OPEN DURING THE TAKEOFF AND INITIAL CLIMB. EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT THE RIGHT ENG WAS DEVELOPING LITTLE OR NO POWER.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED WHILE MANEUVERING IN THE TRAFFIC PATTERN. A FACTOR WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO ASSURE THAT THE NOSE BAGGAGE COMPARTMENT DOOR WAS SECURED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX93FA287
- Event ID
- 20001211X12934
- Case number
- LAX93FA287
- 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: 219acb17879a6c60e99161aaf8bd184bc2723cdd0f991104b4e194070a77d81c; retrieved 2026-09-18T13:51:52.363Z.