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LAX83LVW01

1982-11-14 · DEATH VALLEY, California, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport L06

N1234 has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (EPIC AIRCRAFT LLC E1000, built 2025), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE PILOT REPORTED THAT WHEN HE WAS ABOUT 100 FROM THE TOUCHDOWN POINT, "THE BOTTOM FELL OUT AND WE HIT GROUND." AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE PLANE INITIALLY IMPACTED WITH A 6 FT SAND DUNE ABOUT 60 FT FROM THE APPROACH END OF THE RUNWAY. THERE WAS ANOTHER AIRCRAFT IN THE PATTERN BEHIND N1234. THE PILOT OF THE OTHER PLANE DID NOT SEE THE ACTUAL IMPACT, BUT HE REPORTED THAT N1234 FLEW A LONG DOWNWIND AND A LONG, LOW FINAL APPROACH. HE STATED THAT THE AIR WAS SMOOTH EXCEPT FOR SOME THERMALS ON DOWNWIND. HE SAW THE DUST FROM THE CRASH AND SAID IT ROSE NEARLY STRAIGHT-UP AND DRIFTED GRADUALLY. ALSO, HE NOTICED NO UNUSUAL WEATHER CONDITIONS WHEN HE LANDED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1982_LAX83LVW01.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.