NTSB CAROL · Event
Event FTW89DPJ07
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED, WHICH RESULTED IN AN INADVERTENT STALL. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: A LEAK IN THE PITOT SYSTEM, FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO OBTAIN ADEQUATE MAINTENANCE/INSPECTION OF THE PITOT SYSTEM, AND HIS LACK OF FAMILIARITY WITH THE AIRCRAFT.
Factual narrative
THE AIRSPEED INDCR WAS MALFUNCTIONING ON A PREVIOUS FLT. BFR TAKING OFF AGAIN, THE PLT WAS SEEN TO DISASSEMBLE THE PITOTTUBE AS IF THE REMOVE FOREIGN MATTER. ON THE NEXT FLT, HE BGN A HI SPD/LOW PASS OVR RWY 35. AT ABT MIDFIELD, THE ACFT ENTERED A CLIMB TO APRX 800 TO 1000 FT AGL. NR THE PEAK OF THE CLIMB, THERE WAS A REDUCTION OF PWR & THE ACFT MNVRD (TURNED LEFT, THEN RGT, AS IF TO ENTER A BASE TURN FOR RWY 17). THE LNDG GEAR WAS EXTDD AT ABT 300 TO 500 FT AGL, FLWD BY A TURN (SOUTH) TWD THE RWY. AFTER ABT 45 DEG OF TURN, THE ACFT ENTERED A STEEP DSCNT & CRASHED. AN EXAM REVEALED A RUBBER PITOT LINE, PN 35-324323, WAS DETERIORATED & LEAKED. NO OTR PREIMPACT PART FAILURE WAS FND. EXPERIMENTAL CATEGORYACFT WITH SVRL LIMITATIONS: FLTS RSTRD TO TX; EXHIBITION ONLY; PIC WAS REQUIRED TO HAVE AN INSTRUCTOR'S LOGBOOK ENDORSE-MENT OR LETTER OF AUTHORIZATION (LOA) TO OPER THE ACFT. NEITHER AN ENDORSEMENT NOR LOA WAS FND. PLT HAD ABT 1 HR IN T-34ACFT; CANNABINOIDS DETECTED IN PLT'S URINE, BUT NONE FND IN HIS BLOOD. ACFT WAS NOT EQUIPPED WITH STALL WARNING SYS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1989_FTW89DPJ07.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
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Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, maintenance). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2023 · Conference paper
The Value of Strong Partnerships to Build a Successful Aviation Maintenance Career Pathway Program for Transitioning Military Service Members
The aerospace industry is competing with other industries for a qualified workforce, and many of those competing industries are investing heavily in creating workforce development pipelines.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2026 · Journal article (IJAAA)
From Reactive to Predictive: A hybrid Trust-Mediated Adoption Framework for Data-Driven Maintenance in Distributed-Authority Aviation Environments
Modern aviation maintenance operates within increasingly data-intensive technological environments, yet the operational integration of predictive maintenance into routine decision-making remains incon…
- 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 …
- Semantic Scholar 2025 · Article (Applied Sciences)
Decision-Making Framework for Aviation Safety in Predictive Maintenance Strategies
The implementation of predictive maintenance (PM) in aviation presents unique challenges due to strict safety requirements, complex operational environments, and regulatory constraints.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2024 · Journal article (JAAER)
Low-Resource Automatic Speech Recognition Domain Adaptation – A Case-Study in Aviation Maintenance
With timeliness and efficiency being critical in the aviation maintenance industry, the need has been growing for smart technological solutions that optimize and streamline the different underlying ta…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2024 · Journal article (JAAER)
A New Trajectory in UAV Safety: Leveraging Reinforcement Learning for Distance Maintenance Under Wind Variations
In the field of aviation, safety is a critical cornerstone, and the operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems is deeply connected with this principle.
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