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LAX86FUJ06 · Forbes-Wolfram Special DSA-1M

19 Sept 1986 · ST. JOHNS, AZ, United States

Forbes-Wolfram Special DSA-1M · Accident: in flight encounter with weather during initial climb

From St Johns Industrial Air Park (SJN) to Dallas Love Field (DAL)

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Event

NTSB case
LAX86FUJ06
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

Forbes-Wolfram Special DSA-1M

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
N99QB
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From St Johns Industrial Air Park (SJN), ST. JOHN, AZTo Dallas Love Field (DAL), Dallas, TX
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
In flight encounter with weather
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

  • Flight control system › Lack of
  • Manufacturer › Acft/equip, inadequate cockpit/workplace
  • Manufacturer › Acft/equip, inadequate control location
  • Pilot in command › Clearance, improper
  • Pilot in command › Remedial action, not possible

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

NTSB narrative

THE PLT REPORTED THAT PERSONS OVER 5 FT 9 IN TALL EXPERIENCE LIMITED RIGHT AILERON CONTROL AUTHORITY DUE TO THE SMALL COCKPIT OF THE HOMEBUILT EXPERIMENTAL ACFT, WHICH IS USED EXCLUSIVELY FOR AIR RACING. THE PLT SAID THE RIGHT KNEE OF TALL PERSONS LIMITS THE CONTROL STICK MOVEMENT TO 'ABOUT 2/5THS OF THE AVAILABLE TRAVEL.' THE ACFT HAS NO ELEC SYSTEM & MUST BE FLOWN X-COUNTRY WITH ANOTHER ACFT FOR COM & NAV CAPABILITY. THE ACFT WAS BEING ESCORTED BY A HARVARD MK VII ACFT. THE PLT SAID HE DEPARTED IMMEDIATELY BEHIND THE HARVARD & ENCOUNTERED 'THE WING VORTEX' FROM IT, WHICH ROLLED THE AIRCRAFT TO THE LEFT AT AN ALT OF 6 FT AGL. THE PILOT SAID THAT WITH THE LIMITED RIGHT AILERON AUTHORITY, HE COULD NOT ARREST THE ROLL RATE PRIOR TO REACHING THE INVERTED POSITION. THE PILOT SAID HE THEN LANDED THE AIRCRAFT 'STRAIGHT AHEAD AS GENTLY AS POSSIBLE.'

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX86FUJ06
Event ID
20001213X34801
Case number
LAX86FUJ06
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: ac860999914138463db2f693bdc1e05b91188207841e55b0a1ef4cbc183903cc; retrieved 2026-09-23T13:58:37.263Z.