NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX89FA307
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE, AND OPERATION BY THE PILOT WITH KNOWN DEFICIENCIES IN THE AIRCRAFT. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: EXCESSIVE WEAR IN BOTH ENGINES, IMPROPER USE OF POWERPLANT CONTROLS BY THE PILOT, SUBSEQUENT OVERTEMPERATURE/DETONATION IN BOTH ENGINES, IMPROPER EMERGENCY PROCEDURES BY THE PILOT (INCLUDING PREMATURE GEAR EXTENSION AND/OR FAILURE TO PROPERLY REDUCE DRAG ON THE AIRCRAFT AFTER LOSS OF ENGINE POWER), AND THE PILOT'S LACK OF EXPERIENCE IN MULTI-ENGINE AND THIS MAKE AND MODEL OF AIRCRAFT.
Factual narrative
AS THE ACFT WAS DEPG FM RWY 17, SMOKE WAS OBSERVED COMING FM THE RGT ENG. THE PLT CONFIRMED A LOSS OF PWR & MADE A RGT TURN BACK TOWARD THE RWY, THEN RPRTD HE HAD 'LOST BOTH ENGINES.' THE ACFT WAS EXTENSIVELY DMGD DURING A LNDG ON ROUGH, ROCKY TRRN ABT 1/4 MI SW OF THE RWY THRESHOLD. INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE ACFT HAD JUST CHANGED OWNERSHIP. DURING PRE- PURCHASE INSPN IN FLORIDA, METAL PARTICLES WERE FND IN THE OIL SCREENS OF BOTH ENGS. OIL WAS CHGD & FLUSHED, BUT METAL PARTICLES WERE FND AFTER ANOTHER ENG RUN. IN MAY 1989, THE RGT ENG WAS REPLACED WITH AN ENG FM ANOTHER ACFT. THE ACFT WAS FLOWN TO OAKLAND, CA, WHERE IT WAS PAINTED & NEW INTERIOR WAS INSTALLED. A LCL MECH NOTED METAL PARTICLES IN BOTH ENG OIL SCREENS & RCMNDD OIL ANALYSIS, BUT FERRYING PLT REFUSED. AFTER FLT TO HAWAII, NO OIL STAIN NOTED ON FUSELAGE BFRFLT ON 9/9/89. EXAM OF WRECKAGE REVEALED BOTH ENGS FAILED FM DETONATION. HVY OIL STREAKS FND BHND RGT ENG, SOME STREAKS OF OIL FND BHND LEFT ENG. RGT ENG CRANKSHAFT/ROD BRG SURFACE WAS 0.010' UNDER STANDARD, BUT ROD BRGS WERE STANDARD SIZE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1989_LAX89FA307.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, maintenance). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2023 · Conference paper
The Value of Strong Partnerships to Build a Successful Aviation Maintenance Career Pathway Program for Transitioning Military Service Members
The aerospace industry is competing with other industries for a qualified workforce, and many of those competing industries are investing heavily in creating workforce development pipelines.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2026 · Journal article (IJAAA)
From Reactive to Predictive: A hybrid Trust-Mediated Adoption Framework for Data-Driven Maintenance in Distributed-Authority Aviation Environments
Modern aviation maintenance operates within increasingly data-intensive technological environments, yet the operational integration of predictive maintenance into routine decision-making remains incon…
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Conference Paper
Computational Analysis of Steady State Aerodynamics of Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration in Deep Stall
This study presents a computational investigation of steady state aerodynamics of the Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration over a wide range …
- Semantic Scholar 2025 · Article (Applied Sciences)
Decision-Making Framework for Aviation Safety in Predictive Maintenance Strategies
The implementation of predictive maintenance (PM) in aviation presents unique challenges due to strict safety requirements, complex operational environments, and regulatory constraints.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2024 · Journal article (JAAER)
Low-Resource Automatic Speech Recognition Domain Adaptation – A Case-Study in Aviation Maintenance
With timeliness and efficiency being critical in the aviation maintenance industry, the need has been growing for smart technological solutions that optimize and streamline the different underlying ta…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2024 · Journal article (JAAER)
A New Trajectory in UAV Safety: Leveraging Reinforcement Learning for Distance Maintenance Under Wind Variations
In the field of aviation, safety is a critical cornerstone, and the operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems is deeply connected with this principle.
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