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LAX86LA351 · Cessna 195

15 Sept 1986 · Porterville, CA, United States

Cessna 195 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during landing

From Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN) to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
LAX86LA351
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 195

Aircraft type
Cessna 195
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
N3879V
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN), Grand Canyon, AZTo not recorded
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
Landing · landing roll
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
Airframe, component or system failure
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

  • Landing gear, normal brake system › Failure, partial

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

NTSB narrative

AFTER A NORMAL LANDING THE PILOT SAID HE BEGAN TO APPLY MODERATE BRAKE PRESSURE TO MAKE THE MID-FIELD TAXIWAY TURN OFF AND FELT WHAT HE DESCRIBED AS 'A LIGHT JERK IN THE LEFT GEAR' FOLLOWED BY A 'SNAPPING SOUND WHICH OCCURRED TWO OR THREE TIMES.' THE PILOT THEN SAID THE LEFT BRAKE FAILED COMPLETELY AND THE 'AIRCRAFT VEERED TO THE RIGHT AND ENTERED A GROUND LOOP.' EXAMINATION OF THE LEFT BRAKE REVEALED THAT THE LEFT BRAKE DISC DRIVE KEY RETAINING SCREW FAILED, WHICH ALLOWED THE KEY TO FLOAT LOOSE IN THE BRAKE HOUSING. THE MECHANIC WHO EXAMINED THE BRAKE SYSTEM STATED THAT THE LOOSE KEY 'BROKE OUT THE LOWER PART OF THE HOUSING ALLOWING THE BRAKE LINING TO FALL OUT.'

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX86LA351
Event ID
20001213X34816
Case number
LAX86LA351
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: 71f46a209d4ec45e1bc20c11208d1c4826812f93224aa09d10079efbe47f5c3b; retrieved 2026-09-23T13:59:17.594Z.