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 ↗.
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (go-around, turbulence). All research papers
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2019 · Journal article (IJAAA) Low Level Turbulence Detection For Airports
Abstract—— Low level wind shear and turbulence present a serious safety risk to aircraft during the approach, landing and take-off phases.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2018 · Journal article (IJAAA) Evaluating the Effect of Turbulence on Aircraft During Landing and Take-Off Phases
—— Low level wind shear and turbulence present a serious safety risk to aircraft during the approach, landing and take-off phases.
- arXiv 2026 · arXiv preprint Direct Numerical Simulations of Ice-Ocean Boundary Turbulence
Turbulent heat and freshwater transport at ice-ocean interfaces controls glacier and iceberg melt rates, yet the underlying physics remains poorly constrained.
- 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.
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint Explainable LiDAR 3D Point Cloud Segmentation and Clustering for Detecting Airplane-Generated Wind Turbulence
Wake vortices - strong, coherent air turbulences created by aircraft - pose a significant risk to aviation safety and therefore require accurate and reliable detection methods.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER) Political Turbulence and Aviation Safety: A Cross-National Analysis of Political Stability's Effects on Aviation Accidents
To what extent does political stability affect aviation safety? This research aims to link domestic political conditions and public safety through the consideration of aviation accident frequency.