LAX93LA137
1993-02-24 · SANTA ANA, California, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport SNA
Current FAA registration · N43Y
- Make / Model
- BEECH A36
- Year of manufacture
- 1974 · 19 years old at event
- Engine
- CONT MOTOR IO 520 SERIES (285 hp)
- Seats / Engines
- 6 seats · 1 engine
- Last airworthiness date
- 19740610
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S A522EB
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE PILOT'S INADEQUATE COMPENSATION FOR THE EXISTING WIND CONDITIONS AND HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN AN ADEQUATE APPROACH REFERENCE AIRSPEED. FACTORS IN THE ACCIDENT WERE THE PILOT'S LOW EXPERIENCE IN THE AIRCRAFT.
Factual narrative
THE PILOT SAID HE MONITORED THE ATIS WHILE INBOUND TO RUNWAY 19R AND THAT THE REPORTED WINDS WERE FROM 230 DEGREES AT 12 KNOTS. WHILE ON DOWNWIND THE PILOT SAID HE OBSERVED A TWIN ENGINE AIRCRAFT LAND, 'NOTING THE CRAB ANGLE FOR CROSS WIND EFFECTS.' THE PILOT STATED THAT HE DID NOT HEAR THE LOCAL CONTROLLER PROVIDE 'GUST ADVISORIES' WHILE HE WAS IN THE TRAFFIC PATTERN. THE PILOT SAID THAT ABOUT 50 FEET ABOVE THE RUNWAY 'WE ENCOUNTERED A STRONG DOWNDRAFT THAT BROUGHT US TO (THE) RUNWAY AND BACK UP TO ABOUT 40 FEET AGL.' THE PILOT REPORTED THAT HE ATTEMPTED TO GO AROUND BUT THAT THE AIRCRAFT CONTACTED THE GROUND NEAR THE RUNWAY EDGE AND THEN LEFT THE PAVEMENT AND RAN INTO THE GRASS AREA BETWEEN THE RUNWAYS. THE AIRCRAFT COLLIDED WITH SEVERAL RUNWAY SIGNS AND SHEARED OFF THE LANDING GEAR. TRANSCRIPTS OF RECORDED AIR TO GROUND RADIO COMMUNICATIONS REVEALED THAT THE AIRCRAFT WAS SEQUENCED BEHIND ANOTHER AIRCRAFT AND CLEARED TO LAND AT 1340:37. AT 1341:39, THE CONTROLLER IN RESPONSE TO A REQUEST BY ANOTHER AIRCRAFT FOR THE CURRENT WINDS BROADCAST 'WIND TWO FOUR ZERO AT ONE TWO.' THE OFFICIAL WEATHER OBSERVATION TAKEN IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE ACCIDENT REPORTED THE WINDS FROM 270 DEGREES AT 10 KNOTS WITH GUSTS TO 15 KNOTS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1993_LAX93LA137.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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