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LAX85LA187 · Cessna 150

23 Mar 1985 · Banning, CA, United States

Cessna 150 · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering

From Banning Municipal Airport (BNG) to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
LAX85LA187
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 150

Aircraft type
Cessna 150
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
N6653G
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Banning Municipal Airport (BNG)To 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
Maneuvering
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 collision with object
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
Wire, transmission
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 › Judgment, poor
  • Pilot in command › Low pass, performed
  • Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
  • Pilot in command › Proper altitude, not maintained

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

NTSB narrative

THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH A POWER LINE 50 FT AGL WHILE MANEUVERING OVER A FREEWAY AT LOW ALT. A PALM SPRINGS ATC EMPLOYEE WHO WAS DRIVING HIS CAR IN THE EASTBOUND LANE OF I-10 APRX 10 NM EAST OF THE BANNING ARPT, OBSERVED THE ACCIDENT ACFT ON A WESTBOUND HEADING AT ABOUT 30 FT AGL. A FEW MOMENTS LATER THE SAME OBSERVER SAW THE SAME ACFT FLYING EASTBOUND AS IT FLEW OVER HIS CAR AT AN ESTIMATED ALT OF 30 TO 50 FT AGL. THE ACFT WAS IN A LEVEL FLT ATTITUDE AND APPARENTLY IN NO DIFFUCULTY. THE OBSERVER SAW THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH AN OVERHEAD WIRE AND PITCH DOWN. THE ACFT WAS RECOVERED FROM THE FREEWAY CENTER SECTION WITH A HIGH TENSION WIRE IMBEDDED IN THE LEADING EDGE OF BOTH MAIN LNDG GEAR STRUTS NEXT TO THE FUSELAGE. THE HEIGHT OF THE WIRES WAS MEASURED AS 50 FT AGL BY CHIPS (CA HWY PATROL OFFICERS). THE STUDENT PLT HAD BEEN INSTRUCTED TO PRACTICE TAKEOFF & LNDGS. THIS WAS DONE FOR ABOUT 1+ HRS AS THE CFI WATCHED. AFTER 2 HRS, THE ACFT LEFT THE ARPT AREA. 15 MINUTES LATER, THE CFI WAS INFORMED OF THE CRASH 8 MILES EAST OF THE ARPT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX85LA187
Event ID
20001214X35968
Case number
LAX85LA187
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: 72b85a475c178daa8cfc64b6d0ca4fc44bac7a7fb5482f3e2cd67e9239ece48c; retrieved 2026-09-22T01:55:27.128Z.