NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX89LA220
Registry · N92827
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
COMMONWEALTH 185
Engine
CONT MOTOR C85 SERIES (85 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19581008
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S ACDEA0
Registrant of record
DEXTER FRED H
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
FUEL EXHAUSTION DUE TO THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO ACCURATELY DETERMINE THE FUEL LOAD PRIOR TO DEPARTURE.
Factual narrative
THE AIRCRAFT EXPERIENCED FUEL EXHAUSTION DURING CRUISE ABOUT TWO MILES FROM THE INTENDED DESTINATION AIRPORT. THE PILOT LANDED ON A HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL FIELD AND WAS UNABLE TO STOP PRIOR TO COLLIDING WITH A FENCE. THE PILOT SAID THAT HE HAD 'NEVER BEEN ABLE TO COMPLETELY TRUST THE FUEL QUANTITY INDICATORS,' AND, THAT VISUAL CHECKS OF THE FUEL TANKS WERE NOT ACCURATE DUE TO THE GROUND ATTITUDE OF THE AIRCRAFT. THE PILOT NOTED THAT HE USED A SYSTEM OF FUEL USAGE CALCULATION VERSUS AMOUNT OF FUEL LOADED ONBOARD TO DETERMINE THE AMOUNT OF FUEL IN THE TANKS AT ANY GIVEN TIME. THE PILOT STATED THAT HE HAD NOT USED A FUEL DIP STICK DEVICE TO QUANTIFY THE AMOUNT OF FUEL IN THE TANKS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1989_LAX89LA220.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 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),…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2022 · Journal article (IJAAA)
Comparison of Schedules, Stress, Sleep Problems, Fatigue, Mental Health and Well-being of Low Cost and Network Carrier Pilots
Objective This research investigates and compares working-conditions, duty rosters, stress, sleep problems, fatigue levels, mental health, and well-being of pilots working for network (NWCs), and low-…
- 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 …
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 1996 · Journal article (JAAER)
The Edwards Personal Preference Schedule as a Predictor of Success in a Collegiate Professional Pilot Training Program
This study examined the preliminary results of a project designed to identify a method to predict successful student completion of a collegiate professional pilot curriculum.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗