NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX90LA047
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO ATTAIN THE PROPER TOUCHDOWN POINT FOR LANDING, AND HIS FAILURE TO GO AROUND WHEN HE HAD TOO MUCH SPEED AND INSUFFICIENT DISTANCE TO STOP ON THE RUNWAY. A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS: THE UNEVEN TERRAIN BEYOND THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY.
Factual narrative
WITNESSES REPORTED THE AIRCRAFT'S APPROACH TO THE 3240 FT RUNWAY ON SANTA CATALINA ISLAND WAS HIGH AND FAST. THE PLT STATED THE AIRCRAFT TOUCHED DOWN ABOUT HALF WAY DOWN THE RUNWAY. SUBSEQUENTLY, IT WENT OFF THE DEPARTURE END & DOWN A HILL, THEN NOSED OVER. THE PILOT DID NOT ATTEMPT TO MAKE A GO-AROUND. THERE WAS NO REPORTED MECHANICAL PROBLEM WITH THE AIRCRAFT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1989_LAX90LA047.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (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.
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Conference Paper
A Training Study to Improve Monitoring During A Go-Around
As part of an FAA program to improve go-around (GA) safety, we were asked to determine if we could improve the performance of the Pilot Monitoring (PM) during a GA maneuver.
- Flight Safety Foundation 2024 · FSF / AeroSafety World
Go-Around Safety Forum Findings
Foundation Go-Around Safety Forum technical findings — examines why pilots fail to execute go-arounds when criteria are met (stabilized approach gate not met, energy state out of envelope, traffic con…
- Semantic Scholar 2022 · Article (Journal of Safety Research)
Go-around accidents and general aviation safety.
INTRODUCTION Changes in General Aviation (GA) accident rates, specifically in the go-around phase, are examined by comparing the number of accidents, the proportion of fatal accidents, and the proport…
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Aerospace)
Classification and Analysis of Go-Arounds in Commercial Aviation Using ADS-B Data
Go-arounds are a necessary aspect of commercial aviation and are conducted after a landing attempt has been aborted. It is necessary to conduct go-arounds in the safest possible manner, as go-arounds …
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Accepted Manuscript (Version with final changes)
Go-Around Criteria Refinement for Transport Category Aircraft
Presently, airline pilots are trained to go around if, when lower than 500 ft above the ground, they are outside of a handful of parameters such as airspeed, position, and rate of descent.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Validation of Proposed Go-Around Criteria Under Various Environmental Conditions
This paper evaluates the effects of environmental conditions on touchdown performance under varying approach states and validates proposed go-around criteria developed using data from a previously con…
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