Skip to content

LAX88LA054

1987-11-24 · SAN CLEMENTE, California, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport SNA

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

A PARTIAL LOSS OF ENG POWER OCCURRED WHILE THE STUDENT PLT WAS ON A SOLO X-COUNTRY FLT. HE APPLIED CARB HEAT, BUT TO NO AVAIL. THE ENG CONTINUED TO RUN ROUGH & THE PLT MADE AN EMERGENCY LANDING ON UPWARD SLOPING TERRAIN. DURING THE LANDING ROLL, THE NOSE GEAR HIT A HOLE IN THE DIRT & THE ACFT NOSED OVER. AN EXAM OF THE ENG DISCLOSED THAT THE #3 EXHAUST VALVE RETAINING NUT HAD BACKED OFF UNTIL THE VALVE WOULD NOT OPERATE AS THE CRANKSHAFT WAS ROTATED. DURING MAINTENANCE ON THE PREVIOUS DAY, THE #3 VALVES HAD BEEN ADJUSTED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1987_LAX88LA054.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 (maintenance). All research papers