LAX87LA032 · Learjet 24
Learjet 24 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather on approach
From San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Lake Tahoe Airport (TVL)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX87LA032
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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
Learjet 24
- Aircraft type
- Learjet 24
- 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
- N711TJ
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From San Francisco International Airport (SFO), San Francisco, CATo Lake Tahoe Airport (TVL), LAKE TAHOE, 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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
- Pilot in command › Proper touchdown point, not attained
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Lake Tahoe, CA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
AT THE END OF A CROSS COUNTRY FLIGHT, THE PILOT EXPERIENCED LIGHT TO MODERATE TURBULENCE ON SHORT FINAL WHILE EXECUTING A DOWN WIND APPROACH TO THE LAKE TAHOE AIRPORT. APPROXIMATELY 50 FEET AGL OVER THE RUNWAY, THE AIRCRAFT EXITED THE TURBULENCE AND TOUCHED DOWN APPROXIMATELY MID FIELD. THE PILOT APPLIED MODERATE BRAKING THEN STATED THE BRAKES FAILED. THE PILOT THEN ELECTED TO EXIT THE RUNWAY TO THE RIGHT, 200 FEET FROM THE END OF THE RUNWAY WHERE THE AIRCRAFT CRASHED IN A DITCH. INSPECTION OF THE BRAKING SYSTEM REVEALED NO MECHANICAL FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX87LA032
- Event ID
- 20001213X35189
- Case number
- LAX87LA032
- 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 1986-11-02.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 7f272f90030140aa5efbf0864464710fc227a630182a3eb8921e96d8475843a5; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:50:23.942Z.