NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX93LA364
Registry · N16RM
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
MOONEY M20R
Year of manufacture
1997
Engine
CONT MOTOR IO-550 SERIES (300 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19970418
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A0F0D8
Registrant of record
BBJ AVIATION LLC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO LEAN THE AIRCRAFT'S FUEL MIXTURE FOR THE AIRPORT'S DENSITY ALTITUDE.
Factual narrative
On September 21, 1993, at 1300 hours Pacific daylight time, an amateur built McInroy Der Jager DIX airplane, N16RM, collided with the terrain after experienceing an inflight loss of control shortly after departing Runway 21 at the Hesperia Airport, Hesperia, California. The airplane, registered to and operated by the pilot, was substantially damaged. The certificated private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time. The flight was destined for Trona, California. The pilot reported to the Federal Aviation Admnistration (FAA), Riverside Flight Standards District Office, that he had just refueled the airplane. He stated he failed to lean the fuel mixture for the airport's high density altitude. After departing runway 21, the airplane climbed to an altitude of 20 feet above the ground and then settled to the ground over an open field southwest of the airport. The pilot indicated his total flight experience was about 3,000 hours of which 10 hours were in the accident airplane make and model. THE PILOT FAILED TO LEAN THE AIRPLANE'S FUEL MIXTURE BEFORE TAKEOFF. THE AIRPLANE CLIMBED TO AN ALTITUDE OF 20 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND THEN SETTLED TO THE GROUND AND COLLIDED WITH THE TERRAIN. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1993_LAX93LA364.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (loss of control). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Scoping Review of Aviation Loss of Control Inflight Research
Loss of control – inflight (LOC-I) contributes to aircraft accidents at unacceptably high rates. Significant industry efforts and research have aimed to improve LOC-I prevention, detection, and recove…
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article
Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I) — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary comprehensive knowledge-base entry on Loss of Control In-Flight — definitions, contributing factors, accident case studies (Air France 447, Colgan 3407), and prevention strategies.
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2022 · Accident report
Loss of Control on Takeoff in Icing Conditions — Citation 560XL
Cessna Citation 560XL fatal takeoff icing accident, March 2018. Investigation of a Citation 560XL loss-of-control takeoff accident in icing conditions.
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Aviation)
ANALYSIS OF GENERAL AVIATION FIXED-WING AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS INVOLVING INFLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL USING A STATE-BASED APPROACH
Inflight loss of control (LOC-I) is a significant cause of General Aviation (GA) fixed-wing aircraft accidents. The United States National Transportation Safety Board’s database provides a rich source…
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Presentation
Use of Design of Experiments in Determining Neural Network Architectures for Loss of Control Detection
Abstract—We describe empirical methods for selecting a neural network architecture to implement belief state inference on generic commercial transport aircraft.
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Conference Paper
Use of Design of Experiments in Determining Neural Network Architectures for Loss of Control Detection
We describe empirical methods for selecting a neural network architecture to implement belief state inference on generic commercial transport aircraft.
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