Skip to content

Atlas / NTSB / LAX85LA020

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX85LA020

1984-10-02 EL MONTE, California, United States Airport · EMT None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N4902A

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 180

Year of manufacture

1956 · 28 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR O-470 SERIES (230 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19560204

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A612B7

Registrant of record

CAVANAGH MICHAEL B

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

A LOW TIME PVT PLT FLARED THE ACFT WHICH TOUCHED DOWN HARD AND BOUNCED. ON THE SECOND TOUCHDOWN, THE ACFT ENTERED A GROUND LOOP TO THE RIGHT. APPLICATION OF RIGHT BRAKE AND RUDDER DID NOT CORRECT THE SITUATION. THE LEFT WING AND NOSE WENT DOWN & THE ACFT WENT OVER ONTO ITS BACK. THE ACFT WAS EQUIPPED WITH CONVENTIONAL LANDING GEAR. THE PLT REPORTED THAT AFTER HE HAD OBTAINED A PVT PLT CERTIFICATE ON 03/03/84 AND HAD NOT FLOWN AFTER THAT DATE UNTIL THE DAY OF THE ACCIDENT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1984_LAX85LA020.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗