NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX89LA320
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
IMPROPER PLANNING/DECISION BY THE INSTRUCTOR PILOT (CFI), WHICH RESULTED IN A LOSS OF CONTROL AS THE GYROPLANE WENT INTO GROUND RESONANCE.
Factual narrative
THE CERTIFIED FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR (CFI) REPORTED THAT HIS STUDENT HAD JUST ATTEMPTED A TAKE OFF AT PALO ALTO AIRPORT ON RUNWAY 30. THE STUDENT WAS UNABLE TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL, AND THE GYROPLANE WENT OFF THE RUNWAY ONTO A NEARBY SERVICE ROAD WITHOUT BECOMING AIRBORNE. THE INSTRUCTOR THEN DECIDED TO MAKE THE TAKE OFF HIMSELF FROM THE SERVICE ROAD. HE SAID THAT HE ACCELERATED THE ROTOR SPEED TO 350 RPM BEFORE DEPRESSING THE TAKE OFF BUTTON, & ONCE THE TAKE OFF BUTTON WAS DEPRESSED, THE GYROPLANE BECAME AIRBORNE. REPORTEDLY IT REACHED AN ALTITUDE OF TWO TO THREE FEET, THEN SETTLED BACK TO THE GROUND & ENTERED GROUND RESONANCE. THE INSTRUCTOR SAID HE WAS UNABLE TO MAINTAIN CONTROL, AND THAT THEY WERE THEN 'ALONG FOR THE RIDE.' Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1989_LAX89LA320.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (loss of control). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Scoping Review of Aviation Loss of Control Inflight Research
Loss of control – inflight (LOC-I) contributes to aircraft accidents at unacceptably high rates. Significant industry efforts and research have aimed to improve LOC-I prevention, detection, and recove…
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article
Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I) — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary comprehensive knowledge-base entry on Loss of Control In-Flight — definitions, contributing factors, accident case studies (Air France 447, Colgan 3407), and prevention strategies.
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2022 · Accident report
Loss of Control on Takeoff in Icing Conditions — Citation 560XL
Cessna Citation 560XL fatal takeoff icing accident, March 2018. Investigation of a Citation 560XL loss-of-control takeoff accident in icing conditions.
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Aviation)
ANALYSIS OF GENERAL AVIATION FIXED-WING AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS INVOLVING INFLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL USING A STATE-BASED APPROACH
Inflight loss of control (LOC-I) is a significant cause of General Aviation (GA) fixed-wing aircraft accidents. The United States National Transportation Safety Board’s database provides a rich source…
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Presentation
Use of Design of Experiments in Determining Neural Network Architectures for Loss of Control Detection
Abstract—We describe empirical methods for selecting a neural network architecture to implement belief state inference on generic commercial transport aircraft.
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Conference Paper
Use of Design of Experiments in Determining Neural Network Architectures for Loss of Control Detection
We describe empirical methods for selecting a neural network architecture to implement belief state inference on generic commercial transport aircraft.
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