LAX87LA143 · Stinson 108-1
Stinson 108-1 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather on approach
From Chino Airport (CNO) to Van Nuys Airport (VNY)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX87LA143
- 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
Stinson 108-1
- Aircraft type
- Stinson 108
- 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
- N8185K
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Chino Airport (CNO), Chino, CATo Van Nuys Airport (VNY), Van Nuys, CA
- 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 · IFR final approach
- 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 encounter with weather
- 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
- Visual flight rules (VFR) flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Fuel supply, inadequate
- Pilot in command › VFR flight into imc, intentional
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
UPON CONTACTING ATC, THE PLT REQUESTED AN ILS APCH AND THAT HE WAS LOW ON FUEL. THE CONTROLLER CLEARED THE PLT TO THE ILS. JUST INSIDE THE OUTER MARKER THE CONTROLLER ADVISED THE PLT THAT HE WAS DANGEROUSLY LOW AND TO CLIMB IMMEDIATELY. THE PLT WAS OBSERVED TO MAKE A NORTHERLY TURN. THE CONTROLLER ASKED THE PLT HIS INTENTIONS AND THE PLT REPLIED HE WANTED AN ILS TO THE ARPT. THE CONTROLLER GAVE THE PLT VECTORS BACK TO THE ILS WHEN THE PLT STATED THAT HE WAS DESCENDING THROUGH A HOLE IN VMC. RADAR CONTACT WAS LOST AND THE CONTROLLER HAD TO USE ANOTHER ACFT TO RELAY MESSAGES TO THE PLT. THE PLT STATED THAT HE WAS LOW ON FUEL. THE CONTROLLER ADVISED THE PLT TO SQUAWK 7700 AND THAT IF HE COULD NOT MAKE IT TO ANOTHER ARPT HE SHOULD FIND A FLAT SPOT AND LAND. THE PLT FOUND A DRY WASH AND LANDED. WHILE TAXIING TO HIGHER GROUND, THE RIGHT WING STRUCK A FENCE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX87LA143
- Event ID
- 20001213X30475
- Case number
- LAX87LA143
- 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 1987-03-13.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 4d4f8a1e489b8ac5651cbd72c2776561bf5f3aef05fd4280d717ed2eea25cf48; retrieved 2026-09-23T13:26:22.500Z.