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LAX82FA049 · Mooney M20C

23 Jan 1982 · Victorville, CA, United States

Mooney M20C and Piper PA-28-235 · Accident: midair collision

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Event

NTSB case
LAX82FA049
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 · Mooney M20C

Aircraft type
Mooney M20
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
N7860V
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From L12 · Redlands, CATo L12 · Redlands, 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 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
Unknown
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 · Piper PA-28-235

Aircraft type
Piper PA-28
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
N32380
Operator
Airmech
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From 2LO · Temecula, CATo Apple Valley Airport (APV), Apple Valley, 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 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

  • Pilot in command › Proper altitude, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate

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

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT FLEW FROM LONG BEACH TO REDLANDS, CALIFORNIA WHERE HE PICKED UP A PASSENGER. HIS ITINERARY AFTER DEPARTING REDLANDS WAS UNKNOWN, BUT THE PASSENGER WAS TO HAVE BEEN RETURNED TO REDLANDS. DURING FLIGHT, A COLLISION OCCURRED WITH ANOTHER AIRCRAFT, A PIPER PA-28, N32380. THE PIPER PA-28 PILOT STATED THAT HE WAS ON AN EASTERLY HEADING AT 6800 FT MSL WHEN THE COLLISION OCCURRED. IMPACT MARKINGS INDICATED THAT THE MOONEY M20C WAS ON A WEST SOUTHWESTERLY HEADING AND IN ABOUT A 20 DEGREE RIGHT BANK. THE LEFT WING OF THE MOONEY SEPARATED AND THE MOONEY CRASHED IN A STEEP DESCENT. THE LEFT MAIN GEAR OF THE PIPER WAS SHEARED OFF AND THE LEFT WING, FUSELAGE, AND PROPELLER WERE DAMAGED. HOWEVER, THE PIPER WAS LANDED AT A NEARBY ABANDONED AIRSTRIP.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX82FA049
Event ID
20020917X02259
Case number
LAX82FA049
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: d30df46b19c3477f78bc2058f8dca4f399ce4a84f4ac55a1af13ec1fd453fb2a; retrieved 2026-09-21T08:38:36.751Z.