NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX89FA136
Registry · N84MH
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
CIRRUS DESIGN SR20
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AB7E9B
Registrant of record
MMM&B HOLDINGS LLC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
IMPROPER IN-FLIGHT PLANNING/DECISION BY THE PILOT, WHICH RESULTED IN A LOSS OF AIRCRAFT CONTROL DURING A SLOW SPEED, DOWNWIND APPROACH TO A HIGH ALTITUDE STOLPORT. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE: HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE, TAILWIND, IMPROPER WEATHER EVALUATION BY THE PILOT, SNOW COVERED TERRAIN, WHITEOUT CONDITIONS BEFORE TOUCHDOWN, AND THE SNOWBANK.
Factual narrative
THE EMERG MED SVC (EMS/MEDIVAC) FLT DEPARTED MODESTO HOSPITAL TO TRANSPORT A PATIENT FROM BEAR VALLEY, CA. THE PILOT MADE AN APCH TO THE BEAR VALLEY STOLPORT FROM THE SOUTH-SOUTHWEST. ELEV OF THE STOLPORT WAS 7073'. DRG THE APCH AT SLOW SPEED, THE HELICOPTER BEGAN TO YAW TO THE LEFT. THE PLT APPLIED RGT PEDAL, BUT TO NO AVAIL. HE LOWERED THE NOSE TO BEGIN A GO-AROUND, BUT THE YAW BEGAN TO ACCELERATE. THE PLT THEN SHUT DOWN BOTH ENGS & MADE AN AUTOROTATION. JUST BEFORELANDING, LOOSE SNOW WAS BLOWN UP & WHITEOUT CONDITIONS OCCURRED. DRG TOUCHDOWN, THE HELICOPTER PITCHED FORWARD INTO A SNOWBANK & WAS DAMAGED. THE PLT RPRTD THE WIND WAS LIGHT & VARIABLE. A SHERIFF'S DEPUTY RPRTD THE WIND WAS FROM THE SOUTH/SOUTHWEST AT 5 TO 10 KTS. THE INVESTGATION REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF A TAIL ROTOR DRIVE MALFUNCTION OR FAILURE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1989_LAX89FA136.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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