LAX91LA024 · Cessna 152
United Flight Services Cessna 152 and Boeing B75N1 · Accident while standing
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX91LA024
- 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
Aircraft 1 · 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
- N24815
- Operator
- United Flight Services
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Watsonville Municipal Airport (WVI)To Watsonville Municipal Airport (WVI)
- 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
- Standing · engine(s) operating
- 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
- Miscellaneous/other
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Aircraft 2 · Boeing B75N1
- Aircraft type
- Boeing B75
- 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
- N65544
- Operator
- Robert E. Hill · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Watsonville Municipal Airport (WVI)To Watsonville Municipal Airport (WVI)
- 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
- Standing · engine(s) operating
- 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
- On ground/water collision with object
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Minor
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, not maintained
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT OF N65544 SAID THAT HE WAS HOLDING IN THE RUN UP AREA PRIOR TO TAKEOFF AND THE CESSNA 152, N24815, TAXIED UP IN FRONT OF HIS AIRCRAFT IN A PERPENDICULAR ORIENTATION. THE PILOT SAID HE COULD NOT SEE THE CESSNA 152 AND BEGAN TO PULL FORWARD TO MOVE INTO POSITION. THE PROPELLER OF N65544 SLICED INTO THE RIGHT WING OF THE CESSNA 152. THE INSTRUCTOR PILOT ON BOARD THE CESSNA 152 STATED IN HIS WRITTEN REPORT THAT HIS STUDENT TAXIED UP TO THE HOLD SHORT LINE IN PREPARATION FOR TAKEOFF. HE SAID THAT HE LOOKED TO HIS RIGHT AND SAW THE STEARMAN TAXI INTO HIS RIGHT WING. THE WATSONVILLE AIRPORT IS AN UNCONTROLLED GENERAL AVIATION FACILITY.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE PILOTS OF BOTH AIRCRAFT TO SEE AND AVOID THE OTHER.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX91LA024
- Event ID
- 20001212X24497
- Case number
- LAX91LA024
- 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: 9c10e9373913e5877aa95dd9b58a3992c257c85642004e4f3e76f038891cac3a; retrieved 2026-09-23T05:13:59.606Z.