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FTW89LA068

1989-03-17 · GALVESTON, Texas, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport GLS

N5280R has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CESSNA 172S, built 2002), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN SUFFICIENT AIRSPEED, WHICH RESULTED IN A STALL AND LOSS OF CONTROL. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE: THE WEATHER CONDITIONS, WHICH WERE BELOW MINIMUMS, AND FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO PERFORM A MISSED APPROACH.

Factual narrative

AFTER BEING CLRD FOR AN ILS RWY 13 APCH TO SCHOLES FIELD, THE ACFT CRASHED APRX 75 YDS NORTH OF THE RWY & CAME TO REST INVERTED ON A HDG OF 330 DEG. THERE WAS EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO THE ENG & PROP, & THE FUSELAGE WAS BROKEN AFT OF THE COCKPIT, BUT THE WINGS & EMPENNAGE WERE RELATIVELY INTACT. ALTHO, BOTH OCCUPANTS SURVIVED THE ACDNT, THE PLT WAS UNABLE TO REMEMBER THE OCCURRENCE DUE TO HIS INJURIES. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE WX HAD BEEN VARIALBLE. AT 0656 CST, WHEN THE PLT 1ST CTCD HOUSTON APCH CTL, THE GALVESTON WX WAS IN PART: INDEFINITE CEILING, 100' OBSCD, VIS 3/16 MI WITH FOG. AT 0718, THE PLT WAS ADZD OF NEW WX WHICH WAS IN PART: SKY PARTIALLY OBSCD, 300' THIN SCATTERED, CEILING 800' OVC, VIS 3/4 MI WITH FOG. AT 0736, THE PLT WAS ADZD OF A SPCL WX OBS, WHICH WAS IN PART: SKY PARTIALLY OBSCD, 300' THIN SCATTERED, 800' OVC, VIS 3/16 MI WITH FOG. A SUBSEQUENT WX OBS (NOT AVAIL TO PLT WHEN HE WAS CLRD FOR THE APCH AT 0742) WAS IN PART: 300' OBSCD, VIS 1/16 MI WITH FOG. WX MINS FOR THE ILS APCH WERE: 200' CEILING & 1/2 MI VIS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_FTW89LA068.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, loss of control). All research papers