Skip to content

LAX90LA215

1990-06-05 · MARBLE CANYON, Arizona, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport L41

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

INADEQUATE COMPENSATION FOR WIND CONDITIONS BY THE PILOT AND HIS DELAY IN ATTEMPTING A GO-AROUND. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE SURROUNDING TERRAIN, UNFAVORABLE WEATHER CONDITIONS, THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO ATTAIN THE PROPER TOUCHDOWN POINT, AND OBJECTS BEYOND THE RUNWAY AND OVERRUN AREA.

Factual narrative

DURING ARRIVAL, THE PLT MADE A STRAIGHT-IN APCH TO LAND ON RWY 3 AT THE MARBLE CANYON ARPT, WHICH SLOPED UPWARD TO THE NNE. ON THE APCH, HE NOTED A QUARTERING TAIL WIND, BUT ELECTED TO LAND UPHILL ON THE RWY. LIGHT TO MODERATE TURBULENCE WAS NOTED BELOW 700' AGL, & THE TAILWIND SEEMED TO INCREASE BELOW 250' AGL. THE PLT STATED, 'THE AIRPLANE FLOATED AT APROX 200-150 AGL AND I DECIDED TO GO AROUND APPLYING FULL THROTTLE . . . AT THE TIME OF POWER APPLICATION, HEAVY SINK AND MODERATE TO SEVER TURBULENCE WAS ENCOUNTERED . . . THE PLANE DID NOT CLIMB SO THE POWER WAS CUT . . .' SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT CONTD BEYOND THE DEP END OF THE RWY & COLLIDED WITH A FENCE, TREES, RETAINING WALL & A PARKED VEHICLE BEFORE STOPPING. ESTIMATES OF THE WIND (FM THE ARPT MGR, WITNESSES & PLT) VARIED FROM THE NE, NW, W-SW, & S AT 5 TO 25 KTS & GUSTING. THE RWY WAS LOCATED BESIDE THE COLORADO RIVER WITH CLIFFS ON EITHER SIDE OF THE RIVER. ARPT ELEV WAS 3603' & THE TEMP WAS ABOUT 85 DEG. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_LAX90LA215.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (go-around, turbulence). All research papers