Skip to content

Atlas / NTSB / LAX90DUD02

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX90DUD02

1990-02-26 SANTA MONICA, California, United States Airport · SMO Fatal 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N100PY

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BEECH 200

Year of manufacture

1981 · 9 years old at event

Engine

U/A CANADA PT6A SERIES (715 hp)

Seats / Engines

11 seats · 2 engines

Last airworthiness date

19810707

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A00610

Registrant of record

TBM FLYING LC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S INFLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL DUE TO SPATIAL DISORIENTATION.

Factual narrative

AT THE CONCLUSION OF A LOCAL FLIGHT, THE PILOT ENTERED DOWNWIND FOR LANDING. THE TOWER CLEARED THE AIRCRAFT FOR LANDING AND THE PILOT STATED HE WOULD BE MAKING A 'LONG DOWNWIND.' TWO MINUTES LATER, THE PILOT TOLD THE TOWER THAT HE HAD LOST VISUAL CONTACT WITH THE RUNWAY AND WOULD BE MAKING A GO-AROUND. THREE MINUTES LATER, THE TOWER CONTROLLER QUERIED THE FLIGHT ABOUT ITS POSTION AND THE PILOT RESPONDED THAT 'ACTUALLY I CAN'T TELL.' THAT WAS THE LAST COMMUNICATION WITH THE FLIGHT. THE WRECKAGE WAS FOUND FLOATING ABOUT 4 MILES OFF SHORE. A HELICOPTER PILOT FLYING IN THE VICINITY REPORTED THAT A DENSE FOG BANK WAS MOVING ON SHORE AT THE TIME WITH TOPS AT ABOUT 900 FEET AND BASES AT ABOUT 400 FEET. THE WITNESS SAID THE INFLIGHT VISIBILITY WAS ONE HALF TO THREE QUARTERS OF A MILE BENEATH THE FOG BANK. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_LAX90DUD02.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 (loss of control, spatial disorientation, go-around). 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 ↗