Video: 'Mid-Air Collision Sends Aeroméxico Flight 498 Plummeting Into The Ground | Mayday | Wonder'

(Sunday, August 31, 1986, 11:52 a.m. PDT; during Aeroméxico Flight 498) — A commercial jet and a small private plane collided over Southern California this morning sending the larger aircraft crashing into the Los Angeles suburb of Cerritos and killing 82 people.

Aeroméxico Flight 498, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 traveling from Mexico City to Los Angeles with stops in Guadalajara, Loreto and Tijuana, was clipped in its tail section by a Piper PA-28-181 Archer.

The DC-9, carrying 58 passengers and six crew members, crashed into Cerritos. All 64 people aboard were killed.

The Piper, which was flying from Torrance to Big Bear Lake, carried three people. All three also died.

Fifteen people on the ground were killed, bringing the total death toll to 82. Eight others on the ground were injured.

Investigators ultimately assigned blame equally to the Federal Aviation Administration and the pilot of the private plane. No fault was found with the DC-9 or its crew.

The crash became one of the deadliest aviation disasters in the Los Angeles area.