LAX07LA079 · Waco UPF-7
Waco UPF-7 and Boeing A75N1(PT17) · Accident: midair collision while maneuvering
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX07LA079
- 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
Aircraft 1 · Waco UPF-7
- Aircraft type
- Waco UPF-7
- 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
- N30140
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Zamperini Field (TOA), Torrance, CATo 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
- 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
Aircraft 2 · Boeing A75N1(PT17)
- Aircraft type
- Boeing A75
- 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
- N49270
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Zamperini Field (TOA), Torrance, CATo 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
- 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
- Minor
Cause areas
- Pilots of both aircraft › Clearance, not maintained
- Pilots of both aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
N30140 and a PT-17 departed the local airport to the south and established radio communication with each other. For approximately 15 minutes, the two airplanes flew independently of each other. During that time, the pilot of N30140 heard over the radio frequency two other pilots that were operating in the area, and the pilot did not see either of the two aircraft. One of those two aircraft was N49270. N30140 and the other PT-17 had then decided to return to the airport. N30140 began to regroup with the PT-17 at an altitude of 3,000 feet mean sea level (msl). Approximately 1,000 feet from the PT-17, the pilot of N30140 felt "a hard impact on my aircraft." The airplane rolled more than 90 degrees to the right in a steep descent. The pilot thought another aircraft struck his; however, he did not see another aircraft. The pilot regained partial control of the airplane and executed a forced landing. During the landing, the airplane stalled approximately 35 feet above the terrain, impacted the terrain, and nosed over. N49270 also departed the same local airport to the south and climbed to 3,000 feet msl. Approximately 20 minutes into the flight, he observed N30140 and another PT-17 coming toward him, and they were not in formation. The two airplanes were flying northwest (N49270 was flying south) and N30140 was a "few hundred feet lower." N49270 and the other PT-17 confirmed visual contact with each other over the radio. N49270 and the other PT-17 intended on joining in formation. With about 1/2 mile separation between the two PT-17s, N30140 crossed under N49270. N49270 then joined up with the other PT-17 and "stabilized on [other PT-17] left wing in the step-up position and headed easterly." Approximately 1 minute later, the pilot of N49270 felt a bump and noticed N30140 was slightly to the left and below his airplane. The pilot of N49270 realized that his propeller contacted the tail section of N30140. N49270 landed uneventfully at the airport.
Probable cause
the failure of both pilots to maintain adequate visual lookout and clearance from each other while maneuvering in close proximity.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX07LA079
- Event ID
- 20070209X00166
- Case number
- LAX07LA079
- 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: 53555ec111bf8092fafc4bd110357f2cb0226851dadbe1125cf48cd115eca2ce; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:36:28.791Z.