NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX89FA010
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE PILOT FAILED TO FOLLOW PUBLISHED MISSED APPROACH PROCEDURES. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WERE THE PILOT LACK OF RECENT EXPERIENCE IN TYPE OF OPERATION, INSTRUMENT GO-AROUND PROCEDURES, AND THE CLOUD COVERED MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN.
Factual narrative
AFTER RECEIVING A LIMITED WEATHER BRIEFING THAT REPORTED AN OVERCAST SKY AT 1,500 FEET AGL AT HIS DESTINATION, THE PILOT TOOKOFF WITHOUT FILING A FLIGHT PLAN. UPON ARRIVING AT HIS DESTINATION, ABOVE THE WEATHER, THE PILOT REQUESTED AND RECEIVED AN ILS APPROACH TO THE AIRPORT. AFTER PASSING THE INITIAL APPROACH FIX AND DESCENDING TO 2,200 FEET MSL OUTSIDE THE OUTER MARKER, THE PILOT INFORMED THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER THAT HE WAS EXECUTING A MISSED APPROACH. THIS WAS THE LAST COMMUNICATION WITH THE AIRCRAFT. APPROXIMATELY ONE MINUTE AND THIRTY FIVE SECONDS LATER THE CONTROLLER HEARD AN ELT SIGNAL. THE AIRCRAFT'S WRECKAGE WAS FOUND AT 0700 HOURS PDT ON OCTOBER 7, 1988, BY A GROUND SEARCH PARTY. THE WRECKAGE WAS AT AN ELEVATION OF 2,350 FEET, ON THE SIDE OF A 3,560 FOOT HIGH MOUNTAIN, ABOUT 7 MILES SOUTH OF THE ILS APPROACH COURSE. ANOTHER PILOT WHO WAS AIRBORNE IN THE AREA ABOUT 30 MINUTES AFTER THE ACCIDENT PILOT REPORTED HIS MISSED APPROACH STATED THAT THE CLOUD TOPS WERE AT 2,400 FEET. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1988_LAX89FA010.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 (go-around). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Conference Paper
A Training Study to Improve Monitoring During A Go-Around
As part of an FAA program to improve go-around (GA) safety, we were asked to determine if we could improve the performance of the Pilot Monitoring (PM) during a GA maneuver.
- Flight Safety Foundation 2024 · FSF / AeroSafety World
Go-Around Safety Forum Findings
Foundation Go-Around Safety Forum technical findings — examines why pilots fail to execute go-arounds when criteria are met (stabilized approach gate not met, energy state out of envelope, traffic con…
- Semantic Scholar 2022 · Article (Journal of Safety Research)
Go-around accidents and general aviation safety.
INTRODUCTION Changes in General Aviation (GA) accident rates, specifically in the go-around phase, are examined by comparing the number of accidents, the proportion of fatal accidents, and the proport…
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Aerospace)
Classification and Analysis of Go-Arounds in Commercial Aviation Using ADS-B Data
Go-arounds are a necessary aspect of commercial aviation and are conducted after a landing attempt has been aborted. It is necessary to conduct go-arounds in the safest possible manner, as go-arounds …
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Accepted Manuscript (Version with final changes)
Go-Around Criteria Refinement for Transport Category Aircraft
Presently, airline pilots are trained to go around if, when lower than 500 ft above the ground, they are outside of a handful of parameters such as airspeed, position, and rate of descent.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Validation of Proposed Go-Around Criteria Under Various Environmental Conditions
This paper evaluates the effects of environmental conditions on touchdown performance under varying approach states and validates proposed go-around criteria developed using data from a previously con…
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