NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX89IA184
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
INADEQUATE VISUAL LOOK-OUT BY THE PILOT OF THE OTHER (SMALL TWIN ENGINE) AIRCRAFT. A FACTOR RELATED TO THE INCIDENT WAS: A DELAY OF THE 747 CREW TO SEE-AND-AVOID THE OTHER AIRCRAFT.
Factual narrative
AIR NEW ZEALAND FLT 6 (BOEING B-747, ZK-NZX) WAS INBOUND TO LOS ANEGLES. IT WAS CLEARED TO DESCEND TO 7000 FT ABOUT 26 MI SOUTH OF THE SEAL BEACH VOR. COAST TRACON WAS TRACKING THE 747 & ANOTHER MODE C TARGET, BUT WAS NOT IN RADIO CONTACT WITH THE 2ND (UNKNOWN) ACFT. ATC ISSUED TRAFFIC ADVISORIES TO THE 747 AS THE 2ND ACFT CLOSED ON A HEAD-ON COURSE. THE 747 CREW MADE AN ABRUPT DESCENDING LEFT TURN TO AVOID THE OTHER ACFT, WHICH WAS CONVERVING AT THE SAME ALTITUDE & PASSED WITH APRX 100 METERS HORIZONTAL DISTANCE. THE OTHER ACFT WAS RPRTD TO BE A SMALL TWIN ENG AIRPLANE. TWO FLT ATTENDANTS & ONE PSGR RECEIVED MINOR INJURIES. THE AREA & ALTITUDE WERE IN UNCONTROLLED AIRSPACE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1989_LAX89IA184.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.
Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type. 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 2019 · Abstract
Incorporation of EGPWS in the NASA Ames Research Center 747-400 Flight Simulator
The NASA Ames Research Center CAE Boeing 747300 flight simulator is used primarily for the study of human factors in aviation safety.
- arXiv 2022 · arXiv preprint
Augmented RBMLE-UCB Approach for Adaptive Control of Linear Quadratic Systems
We consider the problem of controlling an unknown stochastic linear system with quadratic costs - called the adaptive LQ control problem.
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Poster
Sleep, Sleepiness, and Performance Across Three In-Flight Bunk Rest Opportunities
Introduction: Airline pilots are required to take a rest break in a bunk during long-haul flights in an effort to reduce sleepiness during critical phases of flight.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Other
Documentation for Three Wake Vortex Model Data Sets from Simulation of Flight 587 Wake Vortex Encounter Accident Case
This document contains a general description for data sets of a wake vortex system in a turbulent environment. The turbulence and thermal stratification of the environment are representative of the co…
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM)
Dynamic stability characteristics of the combination space shuttle orbiter and ferry vehicle
Subsonic forced-oscillation tests of a 0.015 scale model of the space shuttle orbiter/747 ferry vehicle were conducted in the Langley high speed 7- by 10-foot tunnel at Mach numbers of 0.2, 0.4, and 0…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2015 · Journal article (IJAAA)
Comparison of Aircraft Tire Wear with Initial Wheel Rotational Speed
The impact an aircraft has on its tires when it lands has been problematic practically since the invention of the airplane.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗