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LAX85LA196

1985-04-08 · SANTA BARBARA, California, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport SBA

N6099P has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (PIPER PA 46-350P, built 2010), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

AFTER RECEIVING A SPECIAL VFR CLEARANCE TO DEPART THE CONTROL ZONE TO THE NORTHEAST THE NON-INSTRUMENT RATED PLT TOOK OFF ON A SOUTHEASTERLY HEADING OVER THE WATER UNDER LOW CEILINGS AND IN LOW VISIBILITY. A CONTROLLER OBSERVED THE ACFT START A RIGHT TURN AFTER TAKEOFF THEN ROLL LEFT INTO A LEFT TURN. ANOTHER CONTROLLER OBSERVED THE ACFT'S RADAR TARGET CLIMB TO 600 FT THEN DESCEND TO 500 FT BEFORE DISAPPEARING OFF THE SCOPE APRX 1 MILE SOUTH OF THE ARPT. TWO GROUND WITNESSES OBSERVED THE ACFT IMPACT THE WATER AFTER DESCENDING OUT OF THE CLOUDS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1985_LAX85LA196.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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