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DCA92MA022

1992-02-15 · SWANTON, Ohio, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport TOL

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE FAILURE OF THE FLIGHTCREW TO PROPERLY RECOGNIZE OR RECOVER IN A TIMELY MANNER FROM THE UNUSUAL AIRCRAFT ATTITUDE THAT RESULTED FROM THE CAPTAIN'S APPARENT SPATIAL DISORIENTATION, RESULTING FROM PHYSIOLOGICAL FACTORS AND/OR A FAILED ATTITUDE DIRECTOR INDICATOR. (NTSB REPORT AAR-92/05)

Factual narrative

THE FIRST OFFICER HAD MADE TWO ILS APPROACHES, BUT, FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS, FAILED TO PROPERLY CAPTURE THE ILS LOCALIZER AND/OR GLIDESLOPE. DURING THE SECOND MISSED APPROACH, THE CAPTAIN ASSUMED CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE; HOWEVER, HE APPARENTLY BECAME SPATIALLY DISORIENTED, AND INADVERTENTLY ALLOWED AN UNUSUAL ATTITUDE TO DEVELOP WITH BANK ANGLES UP TO 80 DEG AND PITCH ANGLES UP TO 25 DEG. THE FIRST OFFICER ASSUMED CONTROL AND BEGAN LEVELING THE WINGS AND RAISING THE NOSE OF THE AIRPLANE, BUT IMPACT OCCURRED BEFORE THE UNUSUAL ATTITUDE RECOVERY WAS COMPLETED. THE OPERABILITY OF THE CAPTAIN'S ATTITUDE DIRECTOR INDICATOR AT THE TIME CONTROL WAS LOST IS UNCERTAIN. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1992_DCA92MA022.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (spatial disorientation). All research papers