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LAX83FA346

1983-07-19 · MOJAVE, California, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport MHV

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE PLT PURCHASED THE ACFT A WEEK BEFORE THE ACCIDENT. THE DAY BEFORE THE ACCIDENT THE PLT STATED TO RUTAN AIRCRAFT FACTORY PERSONNEL THAT HE HAD NEVER FLOWN THIS TYPE OF ACFT IN THE PAST & WAS AFRAID OF THE ACFT. ON THE DAY OF THE ACCIDENT WITNESSES OBSERVED THE PLT TAXI THE ACFT AROUND THE ARPT FOR ABOUT 10 MINUTES BEFORE TAKING OFF AT 0740. AT 0839 THE ACFT ENTERED THE DOWNWIND LEG FOR RWY 22. AS THE ACFT APPROACHED RWY 22 ON FINAL THE NOSE PITCHED DOWN, FOLLOWED BY A 180 DEG ROLL TO THE LEFT IN A DOWNWARD ATTITUDE. THE ACFT IMPACTED A CROSSING RWY IN AN INVERTED POSITION. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1983_LAX83FA346.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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