LAX92FA067 · Cessna 152
Channel Islands Aviation Cessna 152 · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Camarillo International Airport (CMA) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX92FA067
- 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
- 2 · 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
- N69028
- Operator
- Channel Islands Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Camarillo International Airport (CMA), Camarillo, CATo 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- 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, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A CESSNA 152 COLLIDED WITH SLOPING TERRAIN WHILE ON AN INTRODUCTORY FLIGHT LESSON ADMINISTERED TO A TO A PROSPECTIVE PILOT BY A CERTIFIED FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR (CFI). THE AIRPLANE WAS OBSERVED AT A LOW ALTITUDE IN A STEEP CLIMB. THE AIRPLANE THEN DESCEND VERTICALLY IN A NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE UNTIL IT IMPACTED THE GROUND. ONE EYE WITNESS DESCRIBED THE ENGINE NOISE AS LOUD WITHOUT SPUTTERING OR STOPPING. THE WITNESS ALSO INDICATED THAT THE AIRPLANE DID NOT APPEAR TO BE TRAILING SMOKE AS IT DESCENDED. THE WRECKAGE WAS DESTROYED BY A POST IMPACT FIRE. THE CFI WAS CERTIFIED ABOUT SEVEN MONTHS BEFORE THE ACCIDENT AND HAD ACCRUED ABOUT 169 FLIGHT HOURS AS A FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR. THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF MECHANICAL FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION NOTED DURING THE WRECKAGE EXAMINATION.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE ALTITUDE ABOVE THE GROUND TO RECOVER FROM AN INADVERTENT STALL. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE PILOT'S HANDLING OF THE AIRCRAFT SPECIFICALLY AN EXCESSIVE ANGLE OF ATTACK WHICH RESULTED IN REDUCED AIRSPEED AND SUBSEQUENT STALL.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX92FA067
- Event ID
- 20001212X18614
- Case number
- LAX92FA067
- 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 1991-12-22.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 878c3283d263d0b029353b8d318368cc40810a7d28c89b57847c14138b565071; retrieved 2026-09-21T01:26:26.182Z.