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LAX90FA145

1990-04-13 · GRAND CANYON, Arizona, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport GCN

N91081 has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (AEROSTAR INTERNATIONAL INC RX-6), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

IMPROPER ADJUSTMENT OF THE TURBO-CHARGER ABSOLUTE PRESSURE CONTROLLER, AND IMPROPER MANIPULATION OF THE POWER PLANT CONTROLS BY THE PILOT DURING THE GO-AROUND. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: FAILURE OF COMPANY MANAGEMENT TO PROPERLY TRAIN THE PILOT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE APPROVED COMPANY TRAINING PROGRAM, AND THE PILOT'S LACK OF EXPERIENCE IN TURBO-CHARGED ENGINE OPERATIONS.

Factual narrative

ACCORDING TO WITNESSES, THE ACFT WAS ABOUT TO TOUCHDOWN FROM A NORMAL APCH TO RWY 21, WHEN IT ENCOUNTERED VARIALBLE WIND CONDS & BALLOONED TO ABOUT 70' AGL. THE PLT INITIATED A GO-AROUND. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, WITNESSES OBSERVED A PUFF OF SMOKE EMANATE FROM THE ACFT, THEN THE PLT TRANSMITTED THAT THE FLT WAS 'GOING DOWN.' SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES ON WOODED TERRAIN ABOUT 1/2 MI FROM THE DEP END OF THE RWY. AN EXAM REVEALED A LACK OF POWER SIGNATURES ON THE PROP; EVIDENCE OF SOOTING WAS FOUND ON THE SPARK PLUGS (INDICATING A RICH MIXTURE). TESTING OF THE TURBO-CONTROLLER REVEALED EVIDENCE THAT IT HAD BEEN ADJUSTED TO A LOW SETTING; THE TURBO WOULD ONLY PRODUCE A MAXIMUM AIR FLOW EQUAL TO HIGH CRUISE POWER. THE ENG MANUFACTURER RPRTD THAT THIS SITUATION COULD PRODUCE AN OVER-RICH MIXTURE, PARTICULARILY IF THE THROTTLE AND/OR MIXTURE CONTROLS WERE IMPROPPERLY MANIPULATED. THE PILOT LACKED EXPERIENCE IN ACFT WITH TURBO-CHARGED ENGS & HE WAS NOT TRAINED IAW THE COMPANY TRAINING PROGRAM. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_LAX90FA145.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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