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Atlas / NTSB / LAX93LA072

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX93LA072

1992-12-22 FULLERTON, California, United States Airport · FUL None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N61798

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 180K

Year of manufacture

1978 · 14 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR O-470 SERIES (230 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A80C73

Registrant of record

MAYO MICHAEL E

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE AIRPLANE'S OWNERS (INCLUDING THE PILOT) POOR MAINTENANCE AND THE PILOT'S INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT INSPECTION. CONTRIBUTING TO THIS ACCIDENT WAS THE DETERIORATED OVERWING FUEL CAPS SEALS AND THE TAILWIND.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT DRAINED OUT MULTIPLE FUEL TESTER TUBES OF WATER BEFORE DEPARTING ON THE ACCIDENT FLIGHT. SHORTLY AFTER LIFT OFF THE ENGINE EXPERIENCED AN INTERMITTENT LOSS OF POWER. THE PILOT RETURNED TO THE DEPARTURE AIRPORT AND LANDED DOWNWIND, BEYOND MIDFIELD. THE AIRPLANE OVERRAN THE RUNWAY ENVIRONMENT AND COLLIDED WITH THE AIRPORT PERIMETER FENCE. EXAMINATION OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED CONSIDERABLE WATER REMAINED IN THE FUEL TANKS AND THE OVERWING FUEL CAP SEALS WERE DETERIORATED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1992_LAX93LA072.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (maintenance). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗