LAX88FA187 · Cessna 182A
Cessna 182A · Accident: in flight collision with object en route
From Page Municipal Airport (PGA) to Y0E · Tucson, AZ
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX88FA187
- 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 182A
- 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
- N4845D
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Page Municipal Airport (PGA), Page, AZTo Y0E · Tucson, AZ
- 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 · 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 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
- Tree(s)
- 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, improper
- Pilot in command › Clearance, misjudged
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE TRIP ITINERARY BEGAN AT 0530 HRS ON THE MORNING OF THE ACCIDENT WITH SEVERAL STOPS PLANNED AT VARIOUS AIRPORTS IN ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO, WITH A LONG STOPOVER AT PAGE. IN THE EVENING THE PILOT GOT A WX BRIEFING AND FILED A FLIGHT PLAN FOR THE RETURN LEG FROM PAGE TO TUCSON. THE PILOT GAVE HIS ROUTE OF FLIGHT AS V293 AT AN ALTITUDE OF 8,500 FT MSL. THE AIRCRAFT STRUCK TREES ON THE NORTH RIM OF THE GRAND CANYON AT AN ALTITUDE OF 8,540 FT MSL. THE ACCIDENT SITE IS ABOUT 2 DEGREES FROM THE CENTER LINE OF V293. A WITNESS HEARD THE AIRCRAFT APPROACH THE ACCIDENT SITE AND REPORTED STRONG ENGINE SOUNDS UNTIL IMPACT. THE WITNESS SAW THE AIRCRAFT STROBE AND NAVIGATION LIGHTS APPROACH THE ACCIDENT SITE IN LEVEL FLIGHT THEN DISAPPEAR INTO THE TREES; AN EXPLOSION AND FIREBALL WERE SEEN IMMEDIATELY THEREAFTER. THE NIGHT WAS CLEAR AND DARK WITH NO MOON. THE VFR SECTIONAL LISTS 9,200 FT MSL AS THE MINIMUM SECTOR ALTITUDE FOR THE ACCIDENT AREA.
Probable cause
PILOTS SELECTION OF AN INAPPROPRIATE CRUISE ALTITUDE WHICH DID NOT ENSURE ADEQUTE TERRAIN CLEARANCE ON THE LEG OF THE FLIGHT FROM PAGE TO GRAND CANYON, ARIZONA. A FACTOR IN THE ACCIDENT WAS THE PILOT'S FLIGHT SCHEDULE ON THE DAY OF THE ACCIDENT WHICH MAY HAVE PRODUCED A FATIGUE CONDITON.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX88FA187
- Event ID
- 20001213X25714
- Case number
- LAX88FA187
- 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 1988-05-18.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 128e3db62e58cdecf049ce1be1af998aec188021cd107e318d2bbde7662c3268; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:43:12.677Z.