NTSB FTW90FA077 — 1990-03-04 · FABENS, Texas, United States

N5354P has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (RANS S-20, built 2017), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

N5354P Piper PA-24-180 Fatal

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED DURING A TAKEOFF WITH LESS THAN FULL POWER RESULTING IN A STALL. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO LEAN THE MIXTURE TO COMPENSATE FOR THE HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE, AND THE GROSS IMPROPER, INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE THAT HAD BEEN PERFORMED ON THE ENGINE RESULTING IN AN UNAIRWORTHY ENGINE.

Factual narrative

AFTER LIFTOFF, THE AIRPLANE APPEARED TO STOP CLIMBING AT ABOUT 90-100 FT AGL; ITS WINGS ROCKED SIDE-TO-SIDE, AND IT THEN PITCHED NOSE DOWN INTO THE GROUND. THE ENGINE WAS HEARD UNTIL IMPACT. MIXTURE CONTROL FOUND IN FULL RICH POSITION; DENSITY ALTITUDE APRX 5,000 FT. OIL STAIN FOUND NEAR PROP GOVERNOR; AD 90-04-06 AND LYCOMING SB NO. 488, PROP GOV LINE & ELBOW FITTING, NCW. ENGINE TEARDOWN SHOWED PROP GOV SCREEN BLOCKED WITH NUMEROUS CONTAMINANTS; METALLIC FLAKES ON OIL FILTER; CARB BODY DIRTY; CARB FLOAT ATTACH PIN WORN; PLUGS SHOWED RICH FUEL CONDITION; MAG TIMING 3 DEG OFF; INTAKE/EXHAUST ROCKER ARMS IMPROPERLY INSTALLED; PISTON RINGS WORN BEYOND LIFE LIMITS; NO.2 CYL TOP RING BROKEN; NUMEROUS ROD CAPS & BEARINGS INSTALLED BACKWARDS; ALL CRANK PINS WORN BEYOND SERVICE LIMITS; ALL MAIN BEARINGS WORN BEYOND SERVICE LIMITS. SERIAL NUMBER ON DATA PLATE DID NOT MATCH CASE NUMBER OF THE ENGINE. AIRPLANE WAS PURCHASED 1/23/90 BY THE PILOT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_FTW90FA077.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, maintenance). All research papers