LAX86IA021
1985-10-24 · OAKLAND, California, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport OAK
N6815A has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CESSNA 172, built 1956), which was not involved in this event.
Aircraft involved
Factual narrative
ON OCTOBER 24, 1985, AN AMERICAN AIRLINES 727 COLLIDED WITH A PARKED UNITED AIRLINES 727 DURING A POWER BACK OPERATION AT OAKLAND, CA. IMC EXISTED AT THE TIME WITH VISIBILITY LIMITED TO 0 FT DUE TO FOG. THE AA AC SUSTAINED MINOR DAMAGE TO ITS LEFT WING AND THE UA AC RECIEVED SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE TO ITS TR WG. AA HAD TWO WING WALKERS AND A LEAD WALKER POSITIONED AT THE NOSE OF THE AA AC. THE LEAD PERSON STATED HER GOGGLES HAD FOGGED OVER AND COULDN'T CLEARLY SEE THE OTHER WING WALKERS. ADDTIONALLY, THE WANDS USED BY LEAD AND THE LT WING WALKER WERE INOPERATIVE. ACCORDING TO OTHER WITNESSES, LEAD DID NOT SEE THE STOP SIGNAL GIVEN BY THE LEFT WING WALKER. LEAD SAID SHE THOUGHT THERE WAS SUFFICIENT CLEARANCE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1985_LAX86IA021.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (imc). All research papers
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