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Atlas / NTSB / LAX90LA338

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX90LA338

1990-09-28 FLAGSTAFF, Arizona, United States Airport · FLG Serious 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N9161D

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

MOONEY M20M

Year of manufacture

1990 · 0 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING TI0-540 SER (310 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19900917

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S ACAF74

Registrant of record

SCHLESINGER WARREN

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

ENGINE FAILURE DUE TO A RUPTURED FUEL PUMP DIAPHRAGM. A FACTOR IN THE ACCIDENT WAS THE UNSUITABLE NATURE OF THE TERRAIN TO MAKE A FORCED LANDING.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT OF A MOONEY M-20-M EXPERIENCED ENGINE FAILURE WHILE APPROACHING THE AIRPORT FOR LANDING. THE PILOT STATED HE HAD JUST SWITCHED TO THE FULLEST TANK AND ACTIVATED THE BOOST PUMP. AT THAT POINT THE ENGINE QUIT. EXAMINATION OF THE 18 HOURS SINCE NEW AIRCRAFT FUEL SYSTEM, DISCOVERED A RUPTURED FUEL PUMP DIAPHRAGM. AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVE 91-08-07 AND SEVERAL TEXTRON/LYCOMING SERVICE BULLETINS ADDRESS THIS EVENTUALITY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_LAX90LA338.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). 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 ↗