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LAX86LA330 · Cessna 182U

23 Aug 1986 · Tuba City, AZ, United States

Cessna 182U · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb

From Tuba City, AZ to Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (FLG)

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Event

NTSB case
LAX86LA330
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

Cessna 182U

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
N5299N
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Tuba City, AZTo Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (FLG), Flagstaff, 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
Initial climb
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
Loss of control in flight
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/mush
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 › Airspeed, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Performance data, not used
  • Pilot in command › Rotation, excessive

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

NTSB narrative

THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH A DIRT BANK AFTER LOSING ALT DURING THE INITIAL CLIMB AFTER TAKEOFF FROM A DIRT ROAD. THE PLT INDICATED THE ACFT BECAME AIRBORNE AFTER AN APRX 800 FT GROUND RUN AND CLIMBED TO AN ALT OF 10 FT AGL. THE ACFT THEN ENCOUNTERED A GUST OF WIND AND SETTLED 6 FT. THE ACFT STRUCK A 4 FT DIRT BANK LOCATED AT A BEND IN THE ROAD SHEARING OFF THE NOSE GEAR. THE ACFT THEN LANDED IN SOFT SAND AND NOSED OVER. THE PLT'S ACCIDENT REPORT INDICATED THAT THE ACFT WAS LOADED WITH 88 GLLONS OF FUEL AND THREE PERSONS ON DEPARTURE FROM THE DIRT ROAD, AND THAT THE TEMP WAS APRX 75 DEGREES F (24 DEGREES C) AT THE 5,500 FT ELEVATION. ACCORDING TO THE OPERATORS MANUAL, FOR A GROSS WEIGHT OF 2,700 LBS, A TEMP OF 20 DEGREES C AND A PRESSURE ALT OF 5,000 FT, A MINIMUM GROUND ROLL DISTANCE OF 930 FT WOULD BE REQUIRED TO ACCOMPLISH A SHORT FIELD TAKEOFF.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX86LA330
Event ID
20001213X34528
Case number
LAX86LA330
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: dae4c918f682e5140839a804f6ec5b6906817ad84e753c6270f206379eabd826; retrieved 2026-09-23T14:06:20.168Z.