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Atlas / NTSB / LAX90LA183

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX90LA183

1990-05-19 SANTA YNEZ, California, United States Airport · IZA Serious 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N3157F

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

DJI AGRAS T40

0

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A35CB7

Registrant of record

OUTLAW FARMS

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO PROPERLY PREFLIGHT THE AIRCRAFT AND SECURE THE FUEL SYSTEM CAPS WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL SIPHONING AND LOSS OF ENGINE POWER.

Factual narrative

THE AIRCRAFT HAD BEEN REFUELED WITH THE 20 GALLONS OF FUEL IMMEDIATLEY PRIOR TO THE FLIGHT. ABOUT ONE HOUR INTO THE 1.5 HOUR PERSONAL CROSS COUNTRY FLIGHT THE ENGINE QUIT. THE PILOT STATED WHEN THE ENGINE QUIT THE LEFT TANK INDICATED 3/4 FULL AND THE RIGHT TANK 1/8. THE AIRCRAFT LANDED IN A GRAPE VINEYARD AND FLIPPED OVER. POST ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION DISCLOSED HEAVY FUEL STAINS FROM BOTH FUEL CAPS AFT ON TOP OF THE WING SURFACES AND HORIZONTAL STABILIZERS. THE FUEL TANKS APPEARED TO BE EMPTY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_LAX90LA183.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 ↗