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LAX86DVA07

1986-05-04 · MERCED, California, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport MCE

N357X has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CIRRUS DESIGN SR20, built 2002), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

GROUND WITNESSES AND THE PILOT REPORTED THE CANOPY OPENED SHORTLY AFTER DEPARTING RUNWAY 30 AT MERCED AIRPORT, MERCED, CA. THE PILOT EXECUTED A STEEP LEFT BANKING TURN. WHEN THE AIRPLANE TURNED ABT 140 DEG IT PITCHED UP, ROLLED INVERTED AND NOSED DOWN INTO THE GROUND. THE INVESTIGATION DISCLOSED THE AFT CANOPY LOCKING PINS WERE NOT ENGAGED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1986_LAX86DVA07.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.