NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX89LA185
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE PILOTS INACCURATE FUEL CONSUMPTION CALCULATIONS ALONG WITH THE DECISION TO DEPART WITH INADEQUATE FUEL TO INSURE LANDING AT HIS PROPOSED DESTINATION WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL EXHAUSTION. THE ROUGH/UNEVEN TERRAIN ON WHICH THE LANDING WAS MADE CONTRIBUTED TO THE SEVERITY OF THE ACCIDENT.
Factual narrative
AFTER MAKING TWO STOPS FOR FUEL AND FUEL BEING UNAVAILABLE AT BOTH AIRPORTS, THE PILOT DEPARTED FOR A THIRD AIRPORT 12 MILES NORTH. WHILE ON FINAL APPROACH TO IMPERIAL AIRPORT, THE ENGINE LOST POWER AND THE AIRCRAFT WAS LANDED SHORT OF THE RUNWAY. INSPECTION OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED THAT THE FUEL SYSTEM WAS EXHAUSTED OF FUEL. THERE WERE NO REPORTED MECHANICAL FAILURES OR MALFUNCTIONS WITH THE AIRPLANE OR ENGINE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1989_LAX89LA185.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (fuel exhaustion). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- AOPA Air Safety Institute 2023 · Safety advisor
Safety Advisor: Fuel Awareness
AOPA Air Safety Institute safety advisor on preventing fuel-exhaustion and fuel-starvation accidents in general aviation. Covers pre-flight fuel planning, reserve requirements (14 CFR 91.151, 91.167),…
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Abstract
U.S. Civil Rotorcraft Accidents, 1963 through 1997
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recorded 8,436 rotorcraft accidents during the period mid - 1963 through the end of 1997.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Contractor Report (CR)
A study of carburetor/induction system icing in general aviation accidents
An assessment of the frequency and severity of carburetor/induction icing in general-aviation accidents was performed. The available literature and accident data from the National Transportation Safet…
- NASA NTRS 2018 · Other
Parachuting to Safety
NASA's Langley Research Center awarded Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc., three Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts to research and develop a new, low cost, lightweight recovery system …
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