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Atlas / NTSB / LAX90LA247

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX90LA247

1990-07-08 SANTA YNEZ, California, United States Airport · IZA None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N8663A

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BOEING 737-8H4

Year of manufacture

2015

TCDS

A16WE · THE BOEING CO

Engine

CFM INTL CFM56-7B27E

Seats / Engines

143 seats · 2 engines

Last airworthiness date

20150322

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S ABE7E3

Registrant of record

UMB BANK NA TRUSTEE

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

AN ENGINE FAILURE DUE TO FUEL LEAKAGE FROM A RUPTURED DIAPHRAM IN THE CARBURETOR; FAILURE OF THE AIRCRAFT OWNER TO COMPLY WITH THE MANUFACTURER'S RECOMMENDED COMPONENT OVERHAUL INTERVALS.

Factual narrative

THE AIRCRAFT WAS PERFORMING 'S' TURNS ON FINAL TO ALLOW SPACING FOR A GLIDER DEPARTURE. AS THE PILOT ADDED THROTTLE THE ENGINE FAILED TO RESPOND AND THE AIRCRAFT LANDED SHORT OF THE RUNWAY IN A HILLY BRUSH COVERED AREA. THE CARBURETOR WAS FUNCTIONALLY TESTED TO MANUFACTURER'S SPECIFICATIONS, HOWEVER, IT WAS FOUND TO BE ON THE RICH SIDE. FURTHER EXAMINATION OF THE UNIT REVEALED THAT FUEL WAS LEAKING INTO THE INTAKE AIR SECTION OF THE CARBURETOR FROM A CRACKED RUBBER DIAPHRAM. ACCORDING TO BENDIX, THE CARBURETOR SHOULD BE OVERHAULED AT THE SAME TIME THE ENGINE IS OVERHAULED. DETAILED REVIEW OF THE MAINTENANCE RECORDS DISCLOSED NO EVIDENCE THAT THE CARBURETOR WAS OVERHAULED DURING THE LAST ENGINE OVERHAUL. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_LAX90LA247.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 or causal vocabulary (engine failure, maintenance). 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 ↗