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Resort Commuter de Havilland DHC-6 accident

4 Aug 1987 · Palmdale, CA, United States

de Havilland DHC-6 and Venco Pacific Aviation Cessna 172N · Accident: midair collision en route

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Event

NTSB case
LAX87FA290
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
Charter & commuter
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 · de Havilland DHC-6

Aircraft type
de Havilland DHC-6
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
N931MA
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Los Angeles, CATo General William J Fox Airfield (WJF), Lancaster, 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
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 · descent
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
Substantial

Aircraft 2 · Cessna 172N

Aircraft type
Cessna 172
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
N737EV
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Oxnard Airport (OXR), Oxnard, CATo Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), Las Vegas, NV
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
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
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

A DEHAVILLAND DHC-6, N931MA, OPERATING AS TRANSWORLD EXPRESS FLT 7591 (TWE 7591) & A CESSNA 172N, N737EV, COLLIDED ABT 10 MILES WEST/SOUTHWEST OF PALMDALE, CA AT ABT 5500 FT MSL. TWE 7591 WAS DESCENDING ON A 355 DEG MAG HEADING; N737EV WAS LEVEL AND WAS MAINTAINING A 060 DEG MAG HEADING. THE CAPT ABOARD TWE 7591 WAS FLYING THE AIRPLANE & THE FIRST OFFICER OBSVD N737EV JUST PRIOR TO IMPACT AND TOOK THE CONTROLS AND EXECUTED AN ABRUPT RIGHT TURN; THE CAPT THEN CONTINUED THE DESCENDING RIGHT TURN BUT TO NO AVAIL - THE AIRPLANE'S LEFT WING COLLIDED WITH N737EV. THE PLT OF N737EV REPORTED THAT HE DID NOT SEE TWE 7591 UNTIL THE COLLISION. THE CONVERGENCE ANGLE OF 7591 WAS 53 DEG AND 62 DEG FOR 737EV. BOTH AIRPLANES LANDED SAFELY - TWE 7591 LANDED AT WILLIAM J. FOX ARPT, LANCASTER, CA. & N737EV LANDED AT PALMDALE ARPT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX87FA290
Event ID
20001213X31830
Case number
LAX87FA290
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: 10ebc980a3520e7ed1f15c4a146d07e1614d26f79b8c2545f7e08be675874b5d; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:39:08.650Z.