NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX91LA017
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
A FUEL FLOW INTERRUPTION DUE TO A FUEL SYSTEM SEAL FRAGMENT BECOMING LODGED IN THE FUEL CONTROL UNIT AND THE MANUFACTURER'S INADEQUATE QUALITY CONTROL PROCEDURES.
Factual narrative
THE AIRCRAFT WAS IN THE MAINTENANCE SHOP FOR CORRECTION OF A ROUGH RUNNING ENGINE AT CLIMB POWER, WITH ACCOMPANYING FUEL FLOW FLUCTUATIONS. THE MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT REPLACED THE FUEL PUMP, FLOW DIVIDER AND THE ENGINE SPARK PLUGS. THE ACCIDENT FLIGHT WAS A POST MAINTENANCE TEST FLIGHT TO APPROVE THE AIRCRAFT FOR RETURN TO SERVICE. THE AIRPLANE WAS ON THE SECOND TOUCH AND GO DEPARTURE WHEN THE ENGINE QUIT AND AIRCRAFT COLLIDED WITH THE GROUND DURING THE ATTEMPTED FORCED LANDING. THE ENGINE WAS TEST RUN USING THE COMPONENTS IN THE AIRCRAFT AND WOULD ONLY RUN VERY ROUGH AT NO HIGHER THAN 1400 RPM. AN OBSTRUCTION WAS FOUND IN THE FUEL CONTROL UNIT. OPTICAL EXAMINATION OF THE FOREIGN OBJECT REVEALED THAT IT WAS SIMILAR IN COMPOSURE, COLOR AND TEXTURE TO FUEL SYSTEM SEAL MATERIAL. THE ENGINE WAS MANUFACTURED IN JULY OF 1990 AND INSTALLED IN THE AIRFRAME ON AUGUST 14, 1990. THE FUEL CONTROL UNIT WAS SUPPLIED BY CONTINENTAL ALREADY INSTALLED ON THE ENGINE. AS OF THE ACCIDENT, THE ENGINE HAD ACCURED A TOTAL TIME OF 256 HOURS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1990_LAX91LA017.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, 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.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2023 · Conference paper
The Value of Strong Partnerships to Build a Successful Aviation Maintenance Career Pathway Program for Transitioning Military Service Members
The aerospace industry is competing with other industries for a qualified workforce, and many of those competing industries are investing heavily in creating workforce development pipelines.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2026 · Journal article (IJAAA)
From Reactive to Predictive: A hybrid Trust-Mediated Adoption Framework for Data-Driven Maintenance in Distributed-Authority Aviation Environments
Modern aviation maintenance operates within increasingly data-intensive technological environments, yet the operational integration of predictive maintenance into routine decision-making remains incon…
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Conference Paper
Computational Analysis of Steady State Aerodynamics of Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration in Deep Stall
This study presents a computational investigation of steady state aerodynamics of the Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration over a wide range …
- Semantic Scholar 2025 · Article (Applied Sciences)
Decision-Making Framework for Aviation Safety in Predictive Maintenance Strategies
The implementation of predictive maintenance (PM) in aviation presents unique challenges due to strict safety requirements, complex operational environments, and regulatory constraints.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2024 · Journal article (JAAER)
Low-Resource Automatic Speech Recognition Domain Adaptation – A Case-Study in Aviation Maintenance
With timeliness and efficiency being critical in the aviation maintenance industry, the need has been growing for smart technological solutions that optimize and streamline the different underlying ta…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2024 · Journal article (JAAER)
A New Trajectory in UAV Safety: Leveraging Reinforcement Learning for Distance Maintenance Under Wind Variations
In the field of aviation, safety is a critical cornerstone, and the operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems is deeply connected with this principle.
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