A Cessna 172 flipped upside down on the tarmac at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana over the weekend, and the two people aboard walked away without a scratch. Video of the overturned plane, sitting on its back near the airport's ACI Jet ramp, quickly drew attention after the aircraft was seen rolling onto its roof following what witnesses described as a jolt from a passing jet.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Cessna, registered as N57BM, overturned at around 2:38 p.m. on Saturday, with an airport spokesperson attributing the flip to high winds. But that is not the only explanation circulating. The newspaper also reported that early ground-control radio chatter suggested the small plane may have been “blasted by the United 737 jet blast,” a detail that has not been confirmed as the actual cause.
Accounts differ on the exact timing. KTLA reported in one account that the Cessna was taxiing behind United Airlines Flight 2611 when it was blown over around 2:30 p.m., while the station separately placed the incident at 2:38 p.m. Either way, the station reported that two people were aboard the Cessna when it overturned, and neither was hurt.
Conflicting Accounts of Who Was Aboard and What Hit the Plane
CBS News Los Angeles reported that the Orange County Fire Authority and airport officials initially said no one was on the plane when it flipped, before John Wayne Airport officials later said a pilot and a passenger had in fact been aboard. The station, which first aired video of the plane tipped onto its roof on the tarmac, reported that the Cessna's owner said the plane flipped because of a jet blast from a United or Southwest airline jet, though the account did not identify which aircraft was actually responsible.
The FAA was reported to have said the Cessna was blown over while taxiing behind United Airlines Flight 2611 and that the agency would investigate, according to information described as preliminary. Muddying the picture further, an unofficial aviation database, Aviation Safety Network, identified the flight ahead of the Cessna as United 2166 rather than Flight 2611, saying the smaller plane was following that jet on taxiway A toward runway 02L when it was overturned by jet blast. The discrepancy has not been independently resolved.
Pilot Points to Construction Near Dove Street
The Orange County Register reported that the pilot wrote the Cessna was struck by jet blast from a Boeing jet that had increased engine power to enter the runway, causing the small plane to move before it overturned. A flight student quoted in that same report said the pilot could not maintain enough distance from the Boeing jet because of ongoing construction near Dove Street. John Wayne Airport spokesperson AnnaSophia Servin told the paper that there were no injuries reported and that there was no impact to airport operations.
Per a report from Aerohaber, a crane was brought in to lift the Cessna back onto its landing gear before the aircraft was towed away from the ramp. That same outlet noted that Boeing guidance describes jet blast exposure extending up to 400 feet behind large jets at breakaway thrust, and as far as 1,900 feet at takeoff thrust — a detail relevant to a busy general-aviation ramp like the one at John Wayne, which handled more than 11.3 million passengers in 2025, according to Aerohaber.
Not an Isolated Incident
The Los Angeles Times noted that the overturn was the second incident at John Wayne Airport in as many days, after a Southwest flight declared an emergency after takeoff the previous Friday and landed safely at LAX. Jet blast upsets involving small planes have also occurred elsewhere: Aerohaber reported that a Cessna 182 taxiing behind a parked SkyWest CRJ700 was flipped over by a jet blast at Flagstaff Pulliam Airport in March 2026, reportedly injuring both occupants, and that another Cessna 172 overturned near a taxiway in November 2023 during gusts of around 50 mph.
For now, the exact cause of Saturday's incident at John Wayne Airport remains unsettled, with wind and jet blast both cited in different accounts and no official determination yet made public. The FAA's investigation, confirmed in reporting by CBS News Los Angeles, is expected to look into what exactly sent the Cessna rolling onto its back on the ACI Jet ramp.
