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Clay Lacy Aviation Learjet 55 accident

15 Jul 2006 · Van Nuys, CA, United States

Learjet 55 · Accident: fire on approach

From Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) to Van Nuys Airport (VNY)

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Event

NTSB case
LAX06FA238
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
Charter & commuter
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

Learjet 55

Aircraft type
Learjet 55
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
N554CL
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), Las Vegas, NVTo Van Nuys Airport (VNY), Van Nuys, 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
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
Fire
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

  • Reason for occurrence undetermined

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

NTSB narrative

The airplane was about 500-600 feet above ground level (agl) on approach to landing when the emergency pressurization and right bleed air annunciator lights illuminated simultaneously. There was no change in the cabin pressurization, and the crew decided to continue and land. About 100-200 feet agl, the left bleed air light illuminated and the cabin pressure went to emergency. The crew switched the cabin air off. They landed, taxied quickly to their parking area, and turned the left and right bleed air switches off prior to engine shutdown. The flight line crew notified the flight crew that smoke was coming out of the ram air vent in the dorsal fin area. The pilot indicated that no smoke or smells entered the cabin or cockpit. He also pointed out that the air conditioner was blowing hot air and its operation appeared to be intermittent; the passengers had complained about the high temperature in the cabin. External visual examination revealed heat discoloration and wavy skin on the aft fuselage skin starting at station 512.39, frame 39, which extended aft to station 544.39, frame 41. Internal examination of the empennage in the tail cone access door revealed that frames 39, 39a, and 41 were scorched and sooty. In the aft E & E compartment in the tail cone, investigators observed fire damage to the windshield heat shutoff valve, left and right mixing valve control boxes and associated wiring, landing light/taxi light/auxiliary hydraulic pump relay box, upper side of the flow control valve, and the windshield heat shutoff valve and wiring. There was evidence of leakage and blow-by on the outflow flange of the windshield heat modulating valve; however, the observed damage was not as severe as would be expected if bleed air was the initiator of the fire. The evidence was inclusive for an electrical origin for the fire.

Probable cause

An in-flight fire of undetermined origins.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX06FA238
Event ID
20060725X01013
Case number
LAX06FA238
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: 46c77b39fea433dfd38c9ee54445e15beeea53022eaa48834afa34b936a189d3; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:51:49.963Z.