LAX85FA123 · Cessna 120
Cessna 120 and Cessna 152 · Accident: midair collision en route
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX85FA123
- 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
- 2 · 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
Aircraft 1 · Cessna 120
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 120
- 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
- N9058Y
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From San Gabriel Valley Airport (EMT), El Monte, CATo 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
- En route · descent
- 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
- Midair collision
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Aircraft 2 · Cessna 152
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 152
- 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
- N65599
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From San Gabriel Valley Airport (EMT), El Monte, CATo 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
- 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
- Midair collision
- 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, elevator › Separation
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Wing, spar › Failure, total
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A CESSNA 120, N9058Y, & A CESSNA 152, N65599, COLLIDED IN MIDAIR IN THE PRACTICE AREA FOR EL MONTE, CA. ARPT. THE TWO AIRCRAFT HAD DEPARTED THE CONTROLLED ARPT WITHIN THREE MINUTES OF EACH OTHER. BOTH HAD ONE INSTRUCTOR & ONE STUDENT ABOARD. THE CESSNA 152 WAS STILL OUTBOUND IN A NORTHERLY DIRECTION & THE CESSNA 120 HAD CALLED THE TOWER FOR LANDING INSTRUCTIONS WHEN THE COLLISION OCCURRED. THE CESSNA 120 BROKE UP IN FLIGHT & INJURIES WERE FATAL TO BOTH PLTS. THE CESSNA 152 MADE A SUCCESSFUL EMERGENCY LNDG. ACCORDING TO THE INSTRUCTOR & STUDENT IN THE CESSNA 152 THE ACFT WAS LVL AT2000 FT MSL, HAD JUST COMPLETED A LEFT TURN & WAS ABOUT TO BE IN A RIGHT TURN WHEN THE STUDENT, FROM THE LEFT SEAT, SAW ANOTHER ACFT IN HIS EXTREME RIGHT FIELD OF VISION, APPARENTLY FROM ABOVE. THE WINDSHIELD OF THE CESSNA 152 WAS SHATTEREDBY THE EMPENNAGE OF THE CESSNA 120, WHICH SEPARATED IN FLIGHT. THE INSTRUCTOR IN THE CESSNA 152 WAS A NEW INSTRUCTOR & NEW TO THE AREA. TWO VETERAN PLTS WERE ABOARD THE CESSNA 120, WITH ONE CHECKING OUT IN HIS NEWLY PURCHASED ACFT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX85FA123
- Event ID
- 20001214X35538
- Case number
- LAX85FA123
- 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: f56c8b6253214459182e56e378581f3cf8ea9b9d6e4c86d03ffe3e218173ea7e; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:09:48.467Z.