FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

Pacific Island Aviation Cessna 310R accident

27 Oct 1992 · Saipan, MP, United States Narrative disagrees

Cessna 310R · Accident: vortex turbulence encountered during initial climb

From Mount Gunson Airport (GSN) to Girona-Costa Brava Airport (GRO)

Show on map Search Wikipedia NTSB source dataset
Report a problem

Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's location. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.

Event

NTSB case
LAX93LA019
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 310R

Aircraft type
Cessna 310
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
N5074J
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Mount Gunson Airport (GSN)To Girona-Costa Brava Airport (GRO), Rota
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
Vortex turbulence encountered
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 › Procedures/directives, not followed
  • Pilot in command › Wake turbulence, encountered

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Saipan, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

AN FAA OPERATIONS INSPECTOR EXAMINED THE AIRPLANE AND INTERVIEWED WITNESSES AT THE SCENE OF THE ACCIDENT. THE WITNESSES REPORTED THAT A MCDONNELL DOUGLAS DC-10 AIRPLANE DEPARTED FROM THE END OF RUNWAY 7 ABOUT ONE MINUTE BEFORE THE ACCIDENT AIRPLANE BEGAN ITS TAKEOFF. THEY SAID THAT THE ACCIDENT AIRPLANE BEGAN ITS TAKEOFF FROM AN INTERSECTION ON RUNWAY 7, ABOUT 2,700 FEET FROM THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY, AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME THE DC-10 WAS LIFTING OFF THE GROUND. THEY FURTHER REPORTED THAT THE ACCIDENT AIRPLANE CLIMBED TO ABOUT 200 TO 250 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND; BANKED ABOUT 45 DEGREES TO THE RIGHT; CORRECTED TO ABOUT A 30 DEGREE RIGHT BANK; AND THEN 'SNAPPED' 120 DEGREES TO THE RIGHT. AT THIS POINT, THE WITNESSES SAID THE AIRPLANE BEGAN AN UNCONTROLLED DESCENT AND COLLIDED WITH THE RUNWAY IN AN INVERTED ATTITUDE. THE WITNESSES STATED THEY BELIEVED THE ACCIDENT AIRPLANE ENCOUNTERED WAKE TURBULENCE FROM THE DEPARTING DC-10.

Probable cause

THE PILOT NOT FOLLOWING WAKE TURBULENCE (VOTEX) AVOIDANCE PROCEDURES, WHICH ARE DETAILED IN FAA PUBLICATIONS, RESULTING IN THE AIRPLANE ENCOUNTERING WAKE TURBULENCE. FACTORS IN THIS ACCIDENT WERE: 1) THE PILOT'S INABILITY TO CONTROL THE AIRPLANE AFTER ENCOUNTERING WAKE TURBULENCE, AND 2) INADEQUATE ALTITUDE TO EFFECT A RECOVERY FROM THE UNCONTROLLED DESCENT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX93LA019
Event ID
20001211X15906
Case number
LAX93LA019
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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1992-10-28.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: e1fa4e8cfb27b161f0abae0dd764b8ffcb155c0fe2688767718e624c1d4fdf56; retrieved 2026-09-18T13:56:39.680Z.