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LAX87FA096

1987-01-16 · MT. BALDY, California, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

N5138V has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CESSNA 172S, built 2001), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

DURING A LOCAL FLT, THE AIRPLANE WAS SEEN CIRCLING OVER A RIDGE FOUR TIMES. ON THE FIFTH PASS, THE AIRPLANE DISAPPEARED NORTHBOUND INTO THE CLOUDS. A WITNESS REPORTED THAT AT THE TIME THE MT TOPS WERE COVERED WITH FOG AND THAT BLIZZARD CONDITIONS EXISTED. DURING THE ON SCENE INVESTIGATION, IT WAS FOUND THAT THE AIRPLANE'S LEFT WING STRUCK A TREE. THE AIRPLANE CONTINUED TO TRAVEL 300 TO 400 YARDS BEFORE COMING TO REST ON THE FAR SIDE OF A DEEP RAVINE. THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE TO SUGGEST ANY PRE-IMPACT FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION OF THE AIRPLANE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1987_LAX87FA096.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.