LAX87LA061
1986-12-06 · SAN RAFAEL, California, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport CA35
Current FAA registration · N759DH
- Make / Model
- CESSNA 182Q
- Year of manufacture
- 1977 · 9 years old at event
- Engine
- CONT MOTOR O-470 SERIES (230 hp)
- Seats / Engines
- 4 seats · 1 engine
- Last airworthiness date
- 19770728
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S AA3BCB
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Factual narrative
DURING AN INSTRUCTIONAL FLIGHT, THE STUDENT PILOT WAS NOT ALIGNED PROPERLY WITH THE RUNWAY. THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR (CFI) TOOK CONTROL OF THE AIRCRAFT ON FINAL, BUT HE STATED THAT IT DID NOT RESPOND WHEN HE APPLIED RUDDER CONTROL. AFTER TOUCHDOWN, THE AIRCRAFT SWERVED TO THE RIGHT, RAN OFF THE RUNWAY AND COLLIDED WITH A FENCE. NO MECHANICAL PROBLEM WAS FOUND WITH THE RUDDER CONTROL. THE CESSNA NAVOMATIC AUTOPILOT WAS FOUND TO BE IN THE 'ON' POSITION. IT WAS AN ELECTRIC, SINGLE-AXIS, AILERON CONTROL UNIT THAT DID NOT AFFECT RUDDER CONTROL. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1986_LAX87LA061.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 (autopilot). All research papers
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint ROSflight 2.0: Lean ROS 2-Based Autopilot for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
ROSflight is a lean, open-source autopilot ecosystem for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Designed by researchers for researchers, it is built to lower the barrier to entry to UAV research and acceler…
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint ROSplane 2.0: A Fixed-Wing Autopilot for Research
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) research requires the integration of cutting-edge technology into existing autopilot frameworks.
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint A Data-Driven Autopilot for Fixed-Wing Aircraft Based on Model Predictive Control
Autopilots for fixed-wing aircraft are typically designed based on linearized aerodynamic models consisting of stability and control derivatives obtained from wind-tunnel testing.
- arXiv 2022 · arXiv preprint Experimental Flight Testing of a Fault-Tolerant Adaptive Autopilot for Fixed-Wing Aircraft
This paper presents an adaptive autopilot for fixed-wing aircraft and compares its performance with a fixed-gain autopilot.
- arXiv 2021 · arXiv preprint An Adaptive Digital Autopilot for Fixed-Wing Aircraft with Actuator Faults
This paper develops an adaptive digital autopilot for a fixed-wing aircraft and compares its performance with a fixed-gain autopilot.
- arXiv 2026 · arXiv preprint Robust Adaptive Sliding-Mode Control for Damaged Fixed-Wing UAVs
Many unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can remain aerodynamically flyable after sustaining structural or control surface damage, yet insufficient robustness in conventional autopilots often leads to mis…