NTSB CAROL · Event
Event BFO90FA002
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
IMPROPER INSTALLATION OF THE ELEVATOR TRIM ACTUATORS, AND SUBSEQUENT JAMMING OF THE ELEVATOR TRIM IN A NOSE DOWN TRIM POSITION.
Factual narrative
AFTER TAKING OFF AT NGT ON RWY 34L, THE ACFT WAS MNVRD TO A LEFT DNWND (SAME RWY). ACCORDING TO WITNESSES, THE ENG(S) WENT TO A HI PWR SETTING ON DNWND, BUT THE ACFT SPEED RMND SLOW. APCHG (ABEAM) MIDFIELD, THE ACFT TURNED LEFT, THEN WENTINTO A DSCNT & CRASHED WEST OF THE ARPT. IMPACT WAS ON AN ESE HDG, IN A 15 TO 17 DEG DSCNT. THE LEFT FUEL SLCTR WAS FND IN THE 'OFF' PSN, BUT THE ACTUATING CABLE HAD PULLED THRU THE HOUSING (PRESUMABLY DRG IMPACT). THE RGT FUEL SLCTR WAS ON. BOTH PROPS SEPD FM THE CRANKSHAFT WITH EVIDENCE OF TORSIONAL FAILURE. THERE WAS A HISTORY OF ELEVATOR TRIM (E/T) PROBLEMS. JUST BFR THIS FLT, MAINT HAD BEEN PERFORMED ON THE E/T. E/T ACTUATORS WERE FND REVERSED, WHICH REVERSED THE DRCTN OF TRIM. BOTH E/T TABS WERE FND BYD THE FULL NOSE DWN TRIM PSN. CALCULATED FORCE TO OVERRIDE AT THE FULL NOSE DWN PSN WAS: 121 TO 136 LBS AT 100 KTS, 197 TO 203 LBS AT 150 KTS, 200 TO 305 LBS AT 200 KTS. ALSO, E/T CHAIN WAS FND OFF OFTHE SPROCKET & JAMMED BTN THE BRG PLATE & A BRACKET; 1 OF 2 BOLTS WAS MISSING FM BRG PLATE; OTR BOLT WAS FINGER TIGHT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1989_BFO90FA002.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.
Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Conference Paper
Computational Analysis of Steady State Aerodynamics of Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration in Deep Stall
This study presents a computational investigation of steady state aerodynamics of the Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration over a wide range …
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Automating Bird Diverter Installation through Multi-Aerial Robots and Signal Temporal Logic Specifications
This paper tackles the task assignment and trajectory generation problem for bird diverter installation using a fleet of multi-rotors.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Variation of Critical Crystallization Pressure for the Formation of Square Ice in Graphene Nanocapillaries
Two-dimensional square ice in graphene nanocapillaries at room temperature is a fascinating phenomenon and has been confirmed experimentally.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Polycrystallinity enhances stress build-up around ice
Damage caused by freezing wet, porous materials is a widespread problem, but is hard to predict or control. Here, we show that polycrystallinity makes a great difference to the stress build-up process…
- arXiv 2022 · arXiv preprint
Enhanced Prediction of Three-dimensional Finite Iced Wing Separated Flow Near Stall
Icing on three-dimensional wings causes severe flow separation near stall. Standard improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES) is unable to correctly predict the separating reattaching flow due…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2021 · Journal article (JAAER)
Analysis on the Negative Emotional, Physiological, and Cognitive Responses Elicited from of the Activation of a Stall Alarm
Failing to identify an aerodynamic stall can lead to the inability of an aircraft to sustain flight. To warn pilots of an impending or fully-developed stall, many aircraft have safety devices installe…
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗