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LAX91LA060

1990-12-26 · YUCCA VALLEY, California, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport L22

N5258D has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (AEROSTAR INTERNATIONAL INC S-60A, built 1999), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S IMPROPER USE OF THE FLAPS. CONTRIBUTING TO THIS ACCIDENT WAS THE LOSS OF CONTROL DURING TAILWIND LANDING, AND HIS TAILWIND AND THE PILOT'S INADEQUATE INFLIGHT PLANNING.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT ATTEMPTED TO CONTACT THE UNICOM ON THE CTAF FOR AN AIRPORT TRAFFIC ADVISORY BUT TO NO AVAIL. THE PILOT THEN ASSUMED THAT THE LANDING RUNWAY WAS 24 AND HE SET UP AN APPROACH ACCORDINGLY. THE ACTIVE RUNWAY HOWEVER WAS 06, AND THE SURFACE WINDS WERE 030 DEGREES AT 15 KNOTS. AFTER PASSING OVER THE THRESHOLD THE AIRPLANE'S STALL WARNING HORN SOUNDED. THE PILOT ELECTED TO GO-AROUND AND INADVERTENTLY FULLY RETRACTED THE FLAPS. REALIZING HIS MISTAKE THE PILOT LOWERED THE FLAPS, BUT THE AIRPLANE STALLED, SUSTAINED A HARD LANDING ON THE NOSE GEAR AND NOSED OVER ONTO ITS BACK. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_LAX91LA060.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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