Cessna 172M N80503

Summary

On 6 July 1986 at about 10:30 local time, a Cessna 172M registered N80503, operated by JIM Kuhn, was involved in an accident near Havasu Lake, California, United States. 5 people were on board and 5 died. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

6 July 1986 at 10:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Havasu Lake, California, United States

Nearest airport

Lake Havasu City (LHU)

Coordinates

34.7791, -114.5904

Aircraft

Cessna 172M

Registration

N80503

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

JIM Kuhn

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Lake Havasu Cty

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

LAX86FA279

5 people died.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

AT ABOUT 2100 PDT ON 7/5/86, THE FLT DEPARTED LAKE HAVASU CITY, AZ FOR AN UNKN DESTN. ON THE NEXT MORNING AT APRX 0330, WITNESSES, WHO WERE FISHING ON LAKE HAVASU, HEARD THE ACFT CIRCLE TWICE, THEN CRASH ABOUT 2 MI WEST OF THE ARPT ON THE CALIFORNIA SIDE OF THE LAKE. THE WX WAS CLEAR & IT WAS A DARK NIGHT. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THE ACFT IMPACTED IN A STEEP DSCNT; IT MOVED ONLY ABOUT 20' AFTER IMPACT & THERE WAS EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO THE NOSE & FWD FUSELAGE. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE/MALFUNCTION WAS FND. TOXICOLOGY TESTS OF THE PLT & 2 OF THE PAX WERE POSITIVE FOR BENZOYLECGONINE & COCAINE. FOR BENZOYLECGONINE, THE PLT'S BLOOD, LIVER & KIDNEY TISSUE TESTED 0.46 MICROGRAM/MILLILITER, 0.58 MICROGRAM/GRAM & 1.3 MICROGRAMS/GRAM, RESPECTIVELY. FOR COCAINE, HIS LIVER & KIDNEY TISSUE TESTED 0.01 & 0.23 MICROGRAM/GRAM, RESPECTIVE-LY. THE PLT POSSESSED A STUDENT LICENSE THAT HAD EXPIRED. THREE OF THE 4 PAX WERE OCCUPYING THE 2 REAR SEATS.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.