LAX82FUG09 · Fournier Aviation RF4D
Fournier Aviation RF4D · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water while maneuvering
From Rialto, CA to Rialto, CA
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX82FUG09
- 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
Fournier Aviation RF4D
- Aircraft type
- Fournier RF4
- Category
- Glider
- 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
- N7719
- Operator
- John Robinson
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Rialto, CATo Rialto, 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
- 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 terrain/water
- 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 › In-flight planning/decision, improper
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Rialto, CA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT REPORTED THAT WHEN THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED, HE WAS SOARING HIS "MOTOR-GLIDER" IN UPDRAFTS OF "THERMAL, SLOPE-WIND, AND WAVE" ORIGIN. HE REPORTED THAT THERMALS AND A WEAK SOUTHWEST WIND WERE PRODUCING LIFT ALONG RIDGES WITH WALLS THAT WERE FACING WEST, SOUTHWEST, AND SOUTH. REPORTEDLY, HE WAS FLYING IN THESE AREAS, IN AND OUT OF CANYONS, WITH THE ENGINE OPERATING AT A FAST IDLE TO REDUCE DRAG. WHILE FLYING WESTWARD, HE ENCOUNTERED AN AREA OF LIFT WHERE HE MANEUVERED AND CLIMBED FROM 2900 TO 3100 FT. FROM THERE, HE STARTED TO FOLLOW A WEST FACING WALL OF A NORTH CONNECTING RIDGE WHEN HE ENCOUNTERED A SUDDEN, VERY STRONG, DOWNDRAFT. HE APPLIED FULL THROTTLE AND TURNED LEFT TO FOLLOW A CANYON THAT DROPPED AWAY TO THE WEST, BUT THE AIRCRAFT STRUCK A ROCKY OUTCROPPING AT AN ELEVATION OF APPROXIMATELY 3000 FT MSL.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX82FUG09
- Event ID
- 20020917X02292
- Case number
- LAX82FUG09
- 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: ac4e43a7e503f4c798efe6f6c215c4751125976698a67c6259718396f983c0a8; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:17:42.889Z.