Skip to content

Atlas / NTSB / FTW90LA162

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW90LA162

1990-09-02 HEBER SPRINGS, Arkansas, United States Airport · HBZ None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO CONDUCT A THOROUGH PREFLIGHT AND HIS ATTEMPT TO EXECUTE A TURN AT HIGH SPEED.

Factual narrative

DURING A TAKEOFF THE OBSERVED AN ERRATIC AIRSPEED INDICATION, FOLLOWED BY ZERO INDICATION, SO HE ELECTED TO ABORT THE TAKEOFF. DURING THE ABORTED TAKEOFF HE ATTEMPTED A HIGH SPEED TURN TO THE LEFT OFF THE RUNWAY, COLLAPSING THE NOSE GEAR AND CAUSING SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE TO AIRPLANE. THE ERRATIC AIRSPEED WAS THE DIRECT RESULT OF A BLOCKAGE OF THE PITOT STATIC SYSTEM BY AN INSECT NEST. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_FTW90LA162.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.