LAX86FA249 · Carnes OSPREY 2
Carnes OSPREY 2 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather en route
From Calexico International Airport (CXL) to Brown Field Municipal Airport (SDM)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX86FA249
- 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
- 1 · 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
Carnes OSPREY 2
- Aircraft type
- Carnes OSPREY 2
- 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
- N627JC
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Calexico International Airport (CXL), Calexico, CATo Brown Field Municipal Airport (SDM), San Diego, 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
- 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
- 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
- Aircraft performance › Inadequate
- Manufacturer › Acft/equip, inadequate handling/perf capabilities
- Pilot in command › Stall/spin, inadvertent
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
WITNESS STATEMENTS & EXAMINATION OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED THAT THE AIRCRAFT STRUCK THE GROUND AS A RESULT OF A STALL-SPIN TYPE ACCIDENT NEAR THE END OF THE CLOSED PORTION OF A BOX CANYON ABOUT 200 FEET BELOW THE TOP OF THE RIDGE. THE INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE PILOT/BUILDER EXTENSIVELY MODIFIED THE AIRCRAFT AS BUILT FROM THE ORIGINAL PLANS/SPECIFICATIONS. ALL OF THE MODIFICATIONS ATTEMPTED BY THE PILOT WERE, ACCORDING TO THE AIRCRAFT DESIGNER, PROVEN TO INDUCE LONGITUDINAL STABILITY PROBLEMS DURING FLIGHT TESTING OF THE PROTOTYPE AIRCRAFT. THE PILOT COMMENTED TO HIS ASSOCIATES THAT HE WOULD EXPERIENCE CONTROL PROBLEMS IN TURBULENCE, REPORTEDLY SAYING THAT 'IN TURBULENCE THE NOSE WOULD COME UP ALMOST VERTICAL.' WINDS AT 30 KNOTS WITH GUSTS TO 40 KNOTS WERE REPORTED IN THE CANYON BY FOREST SERVICE PILOTS IN ADDITION TO MODERATE TURBULENCE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX86FA249
- Event ID
- 20001213X33901
- Case number
- LAX86FA249
- 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 1986-06-09.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 33cb25d2975910dc652d19468df3d0d1cbd67af4d824a9c61085c6ab90f2930e; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:32:22.060Z.