Skip to content

LAX85FA325

1985-07-23 · GOLETA, California, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport SBA

N11490 has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (WACO QCF, built 1931), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

AT 0242 PDT, THE STUDENT PLT TRIED TO CALL THE TOWER FOR A RADIO CHECK. THE TOWER WAS CLOSED, BUT A FSS SPECIALIST HEARD THE TRANSMISSION & PROVIDED ADVISORIES. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE STUDENT PLT TOOK OFF WITH A PASSENGER ABOARD. SHORTLY, AFTER TAKEOFF, THE ACFT CRASHED ON RWY 25 & BURNED. AN EXAM OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED THERE WAS LITTLE MOVEMENT OF THE ACFT AFTER IMPACT. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION WAS FND, BUT THE ACFT WAS EXTENSIVELY DAMAGED BY FIRE. TOXICOLOGY TESTS SHOWED THE BLOOD/ALCOHOL LEVELS OF THE PLT & PASSENGER WERE 0.12 & 0.13 GRAMS PERCENT (0.12% & 0.13%), RESPECTIVELY. AN INSTRUCTOR PLT STATED THAT THE STUDENT HAD NOT RECEIVED ANY NIGHT FLYING INSTRUCTIONS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1985_LAX85FA325.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.