NTSB CAROL · Event
Event FTW92LA117
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE APPROACH CONTROLLER'S FAILURE TO PROPERLY SEQUENCE ARRIVING TRAFFIC, AND THE TOWER CONTROLLER'S FAILURE TO SEQUENCE AND SEPARATE LANDING TRAFFIC. FACTORS IN THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO OBTAIN A LANDING CLEARANCE AND THE NIGHT LIGHT CONDITIONS.
Factual narrative
THE FLT HAD BEEN VECTORED FOR RUNWAY 13R BY APPROACH CONTROL FROM THE POINT OF INITIAL CONTACT. IT WAS THEN HANDED OFF TO TOWER; THERE WAS NO VERBAL COORDINATION BETWEEN APPROACH & TOWER. A MILITARY TRANSPORT HELICOPTER EXECUTED AN APPROACH TO THE SAME RUNWAY AHEAD OF THE ACCIDENT AIRPLANE, AND TERMINATED AT ABOUT A 300-FT HOVER OVER THE RUNWAY. THE PILOT OF THE ACCIDENT AIRPLANE REQUESTED VECTORS FOR SEPARATION; TOWER RESPONDED SEPARATION '...SHOULD BE JUST FINE....' SHORTLY THEREAFTER, WHILE THE AIRPLANE WAS OVER THE THRESHOLD OF RUNWAY 13R, THE PILOT REQUESTED CONFIRMATION THAT SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BEHIND THE HELICOPTER. THE TOWER RESPONDED '...YOU WERE CLEARED TO LAND ON THE LEFT RUNWAY.' THE PILOT RESPONDED 'OKAY UNDERSTAND WE WERE ONE THREE RIGHT.' AS THE AIRPLANE WAS FLARING, IT ENCOUNTERED VORTEX TURBULENCE FROM THE HELICOPTER AND CONTROL WAS LOST. THE TOWER NEVER ISSUED THE ACCIDENT AIRPLANE A LANDING CLEARANCE TO EITHER RUNWAY, NOR WAS A CLEARANCE TO LAND REQUESTED BY THE PILOT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1992_FTW92LA117.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (turbulence). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- arXiv 2026 · arXiv preprint
Direct Numerical Simulations of Ice-Ocean Boundary Turbulence
Turbulent heat and freshwater transport at ice-ocean interfaces controls glacier and iceberg melt rates, yet the underlying physics remains poorly constrained.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
Political Turbulence and Aviation Safety: A Cross-National Analysis of Political Stability's Effects on Aviation Accidents
To what extent does political stability affect aviation safety? This research aims to link domestic political conditions and public safety through the consideration of aviation accident frequency.
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Explainable LiDAR 3D Point Cloud Segmentation and Clustering for Detecting Airplane-Generated Wind Turbulence
Wake vortices - strong, coherent air turbulences created by aircraft - pose a significant risk to aviation safety and therefore require accurate and reliable detection methods.
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
Does small-scale turbulence matter for ice growth in mixed-phase clouds?
Representing the glaciation of mixed-phase clouds in terms of the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process is a challenge for many weather and climate models, which tend to overestimate this process because…
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Effects of electrostatic interaction on clustering and collision of bidispersed inertial particles in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence
In sandstorms and thunderclouds, turbulence-induced collisions between solid particles and ice crystals lead to inevitable triboelectrification.
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2023 · SKYbrary article
Wake Vortex Turbulence — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary wake vortex turbulence comprehensive article — generation mechanics, dissipation factors, separation standards (ICAO LIGHT/MEDIUM/HEAVY/SUPER + recategorisation RECAT-EU).
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗