FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

LAX86FA178 · Piper PA-28-181

15 Apr 1986 · Beaumont, CA, United States

Redlands Aviation Piper PA-28-181 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather en route

From L12 · Redlands, CA to PO6 · Bullhead City, AZ

Show on map Search Wikipedia NTSB source dataset
Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
LAX86FA178
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
Instrument Meteorological Cond

Piper PA-28-181

Aircraft type
Piper PA-28
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
N28891
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From L12 · Redlands, CATo PO6 · Bullhead City, 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 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); Stall/spin
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 › Flight into known adverse weather, performed
  • Pilot in command › Spatial disorientation
  • Pilot in command › Stall/spin, inadvertent
  • Pilot in command › VFR flight into imc, intentional

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

NTSB narrative

WHEN THE NON-INSTRUMENT RATED PLT DEPARTED FOR THE FLT AT ABOUT 2110 HRS, THE WX CONDITIONS WERE MARGINAL AND DETERIORATING IN THE AREA. NO RECORD OF A WX BRIEFING WAS FOUND. FOR UNKN REASONS, THE PLT WAS RETURNING TO THE ARPT AFTER ABOUT 1 HR AND 20 MNS, ENTERED THE BANNING PASS FROM THE EAST AND ENCOUNTERED CEILINGS OF APRX 500 FT AGL AND VISIBILITIES OF 1 MI OR LESS IN FOG AND DRIZZLE. BY THE TIME THE PLT CONTACTED THE NORTON AFB ATCT, HE WAS UNABLE TO CLEARLY LOCATE HIS POSITION IN THE DARKNESS AND RESTRICTED VISIBILITIES. THE RADIO TRANSMISSION FROM THE PLT, 'WE'RE HAVING PROBLEMS GETTING IN VFR WE'RE GOING TO TRY TO CLIMB AND GET ABOVE THIS (WEATHER)' ESTABLISHED HIS INTENTION TO TRY AN INSTRUMENT CLIMB THROUGH THE CLOUDS TO FIND VFR CONDITIONS. THE WITNESSES OBSERVED THE ACFT ENTER THE BASE OF THE CLOUDS THEN DESCEND 'STRAIGHT DOWN OUT OF THE CLOUDS.' THE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE AT THE SITE ESTABLISHED THAT THE ACFT CONTACTED THE GROUND IN AN ATTITUDE CONSISTANT WITH A RIGHT SPIN.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX86FA178
Event ID
20001213X33295
Case number
LAX86FA178
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 1986-04-16.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 2376613a1cc7e2e58ea68ca2daf7281f47df7fdf7b7ea8715812cda826892b6e; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:36:17.474Z.