Aeroméxico Flight 498 was a scheduled commercial airline flight, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 bound for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California, USA from Rodríguez International Airport in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.

At approximately 11:46am on August 31, 1986, Flight 498 began descending into Los Angeles with 58 passengers and 6 crew members aboard. Minutes before, a Piper PA-28-181 Archer (registration N4891F) carrying a pilot and 2 passengers, departed Torrance bound for Big Bear City. At 11:52am, the Piper collided with the left horizontal stabilizer of the DC-9.

The DC-9 inverted and fell to the earth in a residential neighborhood of Cerritos, killing 15 on the ground and all 61 passengers and crew, as well as destroying five homes and damaging seven others. A fire sparked by the crash contributed significantly to the damage. The Piper fell into a schoolyard, killing all 3 aboard.

The National Transportation Safety Board investigation found that the Piper had deviated into the LAX Terminal Control Area, or restricted airspace. It was out of radio contact with air traffic control, which had been distracted by another flight entering the area. Moreover, the Piper was not equipped with a transponder indicating its altitude, and LAX had not been equipped with automatic warning systems. Finally, neither pilot had sighted the other aircraft, even though they were in visual range.

Afterwards, the Federal Aviation Administration required all comemrcial aircraft be equipped with traffic alert and collision avoidance systems (TCAS), and required that light aircraft operating in dense airspaces be equipped with transponders that could report three-dimensional position.

References

• Brief of Accident, National Transportation Safety Board, adopted March 7, 1988,
• Collision Over Cerritos, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association