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LAX88LA318

1988-09-15 · LA VERNE, California, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport POC

N5126J has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CESSNA 172S, built 2001), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE PILOT STATED THAT HE WAS TROUBLESHOOTING A PROBLEM WITH THE AIRPLANE'S FUEL FLOW SYSTEM. DURING THE PREFLIGHT RUN-UP, HE NOTICED THAT THE FUEL FLOW GAUGE FOR THE RIGHT ENGINE WAS READING TOO HIGH. HE TOOK OFF TO SEE IF HE COULD MAKE AN INFLIGHT DETERMINATION OF THE PROBLEM. WHEN AIRBORNE, THE GAUGE INDICATED A VALUE THAT THE PILOT CONSIDERED EXCESSIVE, SO HE RETURNED TO THE AIRPORT TO LAND. HE MADE A NO FLAP APPROACH, WITH POWER SET ABOVE TEN INCHES OF MANIFOLD PRESSURE. THIS CONFIGURATION DOES NOT ALLOW ACTIVATION OF THE AIRPLANE'S GEAR-UP WARNING SYSTEM. THE PILOT DID NOT EXTEND THE LANDING GEAR. DURING LANDING FLARE THE PILOT REDUCED POWER, ACTIVATING THE GEAR-UP WARNING HORN. THE PILOT MISTAKENLY THOUGHT THAT THIS WAS THE STALL WARNING HORN AND LOWERED THE NOSE TO LAND. THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH THE RUNWAY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1988_LAX88LA318.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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