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Atlas / NTSB / LAX90LA024

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX90LA024

1989-11-06 HAYWARD, California, United States Airport · HWD None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N3018T

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA O-2A

Seats / Engines

6 seats · 2 engines

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A3268B

Registrant of record

PIEPER MIKE D

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO ATTAIN THE PROPER TOUCHDOWN POINT AND HIS IMPROPER FLARE FOR LANDING. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE PILOT'S LACK OF EXPERIENCE IN THE MAKE AND MODEL OF AIRCRAFT, AND COMPANY INDUCED PRESSURE.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT STATED THAT COMPANY MANAGEMENT REQUESTED HE TAKE A BUSINESS FLIGHT THAT HE DIDN'T WANT TO TAKE. HE SUGGESTED THAT ANOTHER PILOT TAKE THE FLIGHT, BUT MANAGEMENT ELECTED TO HAVE ANOTHER PILOT ACCOMPANY HIM. IN RETROSPECT, THE PILOT SAID THAT HE SHOULD HAVE REFUSED TO TAKE THE FLIGHT BECAUSE HE HAD SOME PERSONAL PROBLEMS THAT WERE DISTRACTING HIM. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT HE WAS ATTEMPTING TO LAND 'ON THE NUMBERS' OF A RELATIVELY SHORT RUNWAY. HE SAID THAT HE GOT THE AIRPLANE TOO SLOW TOO SOON AND INADVERTENTLY MADE A HARD LANDING SHORT OF THE RUNWAY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_LAX90LA024.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. 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 ↗