FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

FTW92LA039 · Cessna 152

8 Dec 1991 · Las Cruces, NM, United States

N. American Inst. of Aviation Cessna 152 · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water en route

Show on map Search Wikipedia NTSB source dataset
Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
FTW92LA039
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

Cessna 152

Aircraft type
Cessna 152
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
N4628Q
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo not recorded
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
En route · climb to cruise
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
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Aircraft performance, climb capability › Exceeded
  • Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, poor

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE STUDENT PILOT HAD COMPLETED HIS PRIVATE PILOT MANEUVER SEQUENCE AND WAS RETURNING TO THE DEPARTURE AIRPORT. HE STATED THAT HE WAS AWARE OF THE MOUNTAIN AND RISING TERRAIN BETWEEN HIM AND THE AIRPORT, BUT THOUGHT HE WOULD HAVE NO PROBLEM CROSSING OVER THEM. THE PILOT STATED THAT HE ENDED UP IN A RAVINE BETWEEN TWO HILLS WITH THE AIRPLANE IN A SLIGHT CLIMB. HE SAW A BLIND CANYON IN FRONT OF HIM AND TURNED LEFT WHERE HE ENCOUNTERED A SECOND BLIND CANYON. AT THAT POINT THE PILOT REALIZED THAT HE WOULD NOT CLEAR THE RISING TERRAIN AND ADDED 10 DEGREES OF FLAPS, HOWEVER, THAT DID NOT ALLEVIATED THE PROBLEM. THE NOSE GEAR THEN STRUCK BRUSH IN THE RAVINE AND THE AIRPLANE FLIPPED OVER. THE PILOT STATED THAT THE ENGINE APPEARED TO HAVE BEEN OPERATING NORMALLY THROUGHOUT THE FLIGHT. THE DENSITY ALTITUDE AT THE SITE AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT WAS CALCULATED TO BE ABOUT 7,550 FEET.

Probable cause

THE PILOT'S MISJUDGMENT OF THE AIRPLANE'S PERFORMANCE WHICH LED TO A SITUATION WHERE IT COULD NOT CLIMB ABOVE THE RISING TERRAIN. A FACTOR WAS THE HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE WHICH EXISTED IN THE MOUNTAINS AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW92LA039
Event ID
20001212X18599
Case number
FTW92LA039
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: d21e43af5377fdea4c60c96c49c775511b4f81d32ca0f78988f7143fefbfdfcc; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:22:54.359Z.