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Atlas / NTSB / LAX89LA236

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX89LA236

1989-07-07 VENICE, California, United States Airport · SMO None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE IMPROPER INSTALLATION AND INSPECTION OF THE CARBURETOR THROTTLE LINKAGE ARM.

Factual narrative

THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR AND THE STUDENT PILOT WERE PRACTICING TOUCH AND GO LANDINGS. JUST AFTER THE SECOND TAKEOFF, THE ENGINE POWER DROPPED TO IDLE. DESPITE EMERGENCY PROCEDURES, THE ENGINE POWER WOULD NOT INCREASE AND A FORCED LANDING WAS MADE IN A RESIDENTIAL AREA. DURING THE DESCENT, THE AIRPLANE IMPACTED WIRES AND A TRAFFIC LIGHT POLE. POST ACCIDENT INSPECTION REVEALED THE THROTTLE ARM HAD FALLEN OFF THE CARBURETOR SHAFT. THE UNIT ALSO HAD NOT BEEN SAFETIED IN PLACE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_LAX89LA236.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (icing, stall). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗