NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX90LA038
Registry · N4359C
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
PIPER PA-28-161
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A53947
Registrant of record
SMITH KEVIN LEE
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT OF THE AIRCRAFT BY THE PILOT, WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL EXHAUSTION DUE TO AN INADEQUATE SUPPLY OF FUEL. COLLISION WITH A VEHICLE IN THE EMERGENCY LANDING AREA CONTRIBUTED TO THE DAMAGE AND INJURIES.
Factual narrative
THE PLT RPRTD THE ENG LOST POWER AS THE ACFT WAS ON FINAL APCH TO LAND. THE POWER LOSS OCCURRED ABOUT 3/4 MI FROM THE ARPT. HAVING INSUFFICIENT ALT TO GLIDE TO THE RWY, THE PLT ELECTED TO LAND IN A PARKING LOT. WHILE LANDING, THE ACFT STRUCK AN AUTOMOBILE & WAS DAMAGED. THERE WERE 2 OCCUPANTS IN THE VEHICLE; BOTH RECEIVED MINOR INJURIES. AN EXAM OF THE ACFT REVEALED ONLY A SMALL AMOUNT OF FUEL WAS REMAINING IN THE FUEL TANKS. NO PRE-ACDNT ANOMALIES OF THE ACFT WERE FOUND. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1989_LAX90LA038.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 (fuel exhaustion). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- AOPA Air Safety Institute 2023 · Safety advisor
Safety Advisor: Fuel Awareness
AOPA Air Safety Institute safety advisor on preventing fuel-exhaustion and fuel-starvation accidents in general aviation. Covers pre-flight fuel planning, reserve requirements (14 CFR 91.151, 91.167),…
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Abstract
U.S. Civil Rotorcraft Accidents, 1963 through 1997
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recorded 8,436 rotorcraft accidents during the period mid - 1963 through the end of 1997.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Contractor Report (CR)
A study of carburetor/induction system icing in general aviation accidents
An assessment of the frequency and severity of carburetor/induction icing in general-aviation accidents was performed. The available literature and accident data from the National Transportation Safet…
- NASA NTRS 2018 · Other
Parachuting to Safety
NASA's Langley Research Center awarded Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc., three Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts to research and develop a new, low cost, lightweight recovery system …
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗