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LAX89LA244

1989-07-23 · SEDONA, Arizona, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport SEZ

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT IMPROPERLY LEANING THE FUEL MIXTURE OF THE LEFT ENGINE AND THE DELAY IN ABORTING THE TAKEOFF. A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR WAS THE HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE CONDITIONS.

Factual narrative

THE PRIVATE PILOT REPORTED THAT HE WAS ATTEMPTING TO TAKE OFF FROM AN AIRPORT WITH A DENSITY ALTITUDE OF APPROXIMATELY 8,600'. HE LEANED THE ENGINES DURING THE TAKEOFF ROLL, AND BELIEVES HE LEANED THE LEFT ENGINE EXCESSIVELY. THE LEFT ENGINE EXPERIENCED A LOSS OF POWER DURING THE TAKEOFF ROLL AND THE PILOT ELECTED TO ABORT THE TAKEOFF. HE WAS UNABLE TO STOP THE AIRPLANE ON THE REMAINING RUNWAY AND RAN OFF THE END INTO ROUGH TERRAIN. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_LAX89LA244.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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