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LAX92FA033 · Cessna 337F

1 Nov 1991 · Bullhead City, AZ, United States

Cessna 337F · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water on approach

From Palm Springs International Airport (PSP) to P06 · Bullhead City, AZ

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Event

NTSB case
LAX92FA033
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
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

Cessna 337F

Aircraft type
Cessna 337
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
N1734M
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Palm Springs International Airport (PSP), Palm Springs, CATo P06 · Bullhead City, 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 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 base
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 terrain/water
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 › Altitude, misjudged
  • Pilot in command › Proper descent rate, not maintained

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

NTSB narrative

DRG AN APCH TO A NEW RWY (34) AT NGT, THE ACFT DSCNDD INTO TRRN ABT 4000' SHORT OF THE RWY. THE OLD RWY (17/35) HAD RECENTLY BEEN CLOSED. THE NEW RWY (16/34) WAS APRX 1400' EAST OF THE OLD RWY & ABT 145' HIGHER. THE ARPT OPERATOR HAD NOTIFIED THE FAA OF THE ELEV CHG. THE FAA NOTAM ISSUED FOR THE NEW RWY DID NOT INCLUDE THE ALT CHG DUE TO PROC POLICY. THE PLT HAD LNDD AT THE ARPT SVRL TIMES, BUT THIS WAS TO BE HIS 1ST LNDG ON THE NEW RWY. THE PLT'S LOGBOOK SHOWED A TOTAL OF 118 HRS OF NGT TIME, BUT THE LAST RECORDED NGT FLT WAS 12 YRS BFR THE ACDNT. TWO PLTS AWAITING TAKEOFF SAW THE APCH & INDCD THE ACFT APPEARED LOW ON DWNWND & BASE LEG. THE PLT'S PSN CALLOUTS SOUNDED NML. THE PLT WAS ON MEDICATION (MED) FOR DIABETES & HI BLOOD PRES, WHICH WAS PRESCRIBED BY HIS REGULAR PHYSICIAN. NONE OF THE PRESCRIBED MEDICATIONS WAS DETECTED IN THE PLT'S BLOOD. AN FAA RGNL FLT SURGEON STATED THAT IF THE PLT DISCONTINUED HIS MEDICATION, IT COULD HAVE CAUSED HYPERTENSION AND/OR HYPERGLYCEMIA, WITH A CORRESPONDING DEGREDATION IN HIS NGT VISUAL PERCEPTIVE ABILITY.

Probable cause

THE PILOTS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN A PROPER DESCENT RATE AND TO ADEQUATELY JUDGE THE ABOVE GROUND ALTITUDE OF THE AIRCRAFT DURING THE APPROACH. FACTORS IN THE ACCIDENT WERE: 1) THE DARK NIGHT CONDITIONS, 2) THE PILOT'S DEGRADED VISUAL PERCEPTIVE ABILITY, AND 3) THE FAILURE OF THE FAA TO DISSEMINATE THE AIRPORT ELEVATION CHANGE INFORMATION IN A TIMELY MANNER.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX92FA033
Event ID
20001212X18458
Case number
LAX92FA033
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 1991-11-02.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 0233eb60afe83c2e3974c9f65884903b7ba18d5a3722e3b7134f8cf3fc397d5a; retrieved 2026-09-21T01:30:01.903Z.