LAX90FA082 · Beech 95-55
Chico Flight Center Beech 95-55 and Cessna 182P · Accident: midair collision on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX90FA082
- 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
Aircraft 1 · Beech 95-55
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 55
- 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
- N721L
- Operator
- Chico Flight Center
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern downwind
- 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
- Midair collision
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Aircraft 2 · Cessna 182P
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 182
- 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
- N790T
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Redding Municipal Airport (RDD), Redding, 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
- Approach · VFR pattern downwind
- 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
- Midair collision
- 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 › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE C-182P, N790T, HAD INITIALLY CALLED 8.5 MI NW FOR LANDING, & WAS CLEARED TO ENTER A LEFT DOWNWIND. ABOUT 2 MIN LATER THE PLT REPORTED HE WAS COMING IN ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE FIELD, WAS CLEARED FOR A RIGHT DOWNWIND, AND ADVISED OF THE OTHER ACFT IN THE RIGHT TRAFFIC PATTERN. THE BE-95, N721L, HAD JUST MADE A TOUCH-&-GO AND WAS TURNING TO A DOWNWIND. THE CONTROLLERS REPORTED THAT THE TURN WAS ABOUT A 30-DEG CONSTANT TURN WITH NO ROLL-OUT ON THE CROSSWIND LEG. THE ACFT COLLIDED ABOUT 2 MI N OF THE ARPT. THE AIM STATES, FOR RECOMMENDED VFR TRAFFIC PATTERN OPERATIONS, THAT ARRIVING ACFT SHOULD ENTER THE PATTERN ABEAM THE MIDPOINT OF THE RUNWAY. THE TOX EXAM OF THE PLT OF THE C-182P, N790T, DISCLOSED A POSITIVE CANNABINOIDS (MARIJUANA) FINDING, 0.098 MG/L, IN THE URINE SAMPLE.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE PILOTS OF N790T AND N721L TO SEE AND AVOID EACH OTHER. FACTORS WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE PILOT OF THE C-182P, N790T, WAS DISORIENTED AND IMPROPERLY ENTERED THE TRAFFIC PATTERN DUE TO RECENT MARIJUANA USE; THE PILOT OF THE BE-95, N721L, FAILED TO PROPERLY EXECUTE A CROSSWIND LEG IN THE TRAFFIC PATTERN; AND THE LOCAL CONTROLLER FAILED TO VISUALLY MAINTAIN ADEQUATE SEPARATION OF THE TWO AIRCRAFT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX90FA082
- Event ID
- 20001212X22577
- Case number
- LAX90FA082
- 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: 3513872e60e0f75b851b10623b008b99b0488e9a2f80ede55fe99894f41fafb1; retrieved 2026-09-21T02:58:35.111Z.