LAX99FA199 · Cessna 180J
Cessna 180J · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering
From 43E · MORETON AIRPARK, AZ to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX99FA199
- 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
- 1 · 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 180J
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 180
- 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
- N2660M
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From 43E · MORETON AIRPARK, AZTo 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
- In flight collision with object
- 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
- Wire, transmission (marked)
- 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/clearance, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Unsafe/hazardous condition, not recognized
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
After taking off from Moreton Airpark, the pilot made a right turn to a southeasterly heading. He planned to fly down the Hassayampa riverbed before returning to Moreton. The pilot intended to demonstrate the hissing sound the aircraft made after being shutdown to the mechanic who was also onboard. This symptom had developed after the mechanic had installed new fuel bladders. They were discussing the aircraft symptom when he noticed a bright flash. Witnesses saw the aircraft flying down the Hassayampa riverbed about 10 feet agl. They described the weather at the time of the accident as clear and calm. Investigators found six aluminum electrical transmission lines spanning the Hassayampa riverbed had been broken. The lowest three wires were 24 feet higher than the riverbed at the lowest point. The next set of three wires was 3 feet higher. The wires were marked with an orange ball. Investigators found no mechanical discrepancies with the aircraft.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain altitude/clearance from ground obstacles. A factor was the pilot's diverted attention in this accident.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX99FA199
- Event ID
- 20001212X18797
- Case number
- LAX99FA199
- 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: b8a4d49a07ef7ccb75acbb270f16ba2174a5beb2cb9d9f95a53a219bffa11922; retrieved 2026-09-20T22:05:28.887Z.