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LAX06CA070 · SOCATA TBM 700

27 Dec 2005 · Lancaster, CA, United States

SOCATA TBM 700 · Accident: loss of control in flight on approach

From Camarillo International Airport (CMA) to General William J Fox Airfield (WJF)

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Event

NTSB case
LAX06CA070
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
Unknown
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

SOCATA TBM 700

Aircraft type
Socata TBM-700
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
N198X
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Camarillo International Airport (CMA), Camarillo, CATo General William J Fox Airfield (WJF), Lancaster, 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
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
Loss of control in flight
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
Stall/mush
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

  • Dual student › Airspeed(vso), not maintained
  • Pilot in command(cfi) › Remedial action, delayed
  • Pilot in command(cfi) › Supervision, inadequate

Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

The airplane stalled on short final approach, and it impacted the ground. The purpose of the flight was for the student to receive dual flight instruction to become more acquainted with the airplane's handling characteristics. The student met with his certified flight instructor and received a briefing regarding the upcoming lesson involving, in part, takeoff and landing practice. The instructor directed his student to perform a simulated engine out approach, and engine power was reduced as the airplane glided toward the airport. The student entered a close in downwind approach and, at the direction of the instructor, then performed a left circling turn onto the base and final approach legs. The landing gear was lowered, and the student questioned the instructor regarding whether they could glide all the way to the runway. The instructor advised his student to maintain 90 knots airspeed. During the descent, as the airplane turned from the close in base leg onto the final approach leg, the instructor told his student "don't bank." The student rolled the wings level. Immediately thereafter, the left bank began a second time and the instructor again said, "Don't bank." The student replied, "I'm not." The instructor applied engine power and right rudder to reduce the left bank. The airplane stopped rolling left, and then rolled into a right bank, whereupon the right wing impacted the ground. At no time did the instructor direct his student to release the airplane's flight controls.

Probable cause

The student's failure to maintain adequate airspeed, and the instructor's inadequate supervision and delayed remedial action, which resulted in a stall/mush.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX06CA070
Event ID
20060120X00108
Case number
LAX06CA070
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, coordinates. 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: 0b6aff7ac163410f6f45472b7815a01193f4536db44eaee2b580116d794a6ee7; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:50:46.743Z.