NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX91LA259
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN AIRSPEED ON INITIAL TAKEOFF CLIMB RESULTING IN AN IN FLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL, STALL, AND INFLIGHT COLLISION WITH TERRAIN/WATER.
Factual narrative
AFTER REFUELING HIS FLOAT EQUIPPED AIRCRAFT ON SHASTA LAKE THE PILOT AND HIS PASSENGER ENPLANED TO CONTINUE THEIR FLIGHT TO THEIR HOMETOWN. AS THE AIRCRAFT BEGAN ITS WATER TAKEOFF TAXI RUN IT NEARED A SHORELINE THAT EXTENDED ACROSS ITS PATH. THE PILOT TURNED LEFT, PLACING THE WIND ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE AIRCRAFT AND THE AIRCRAFT DOWNWIND TO A TREE LINED SHORELINE. THE AIRCRAFT TOOK OFF WHILE ON THIS HEADING AND STALLED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1991_LAX91LA259.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.
Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, loss of control). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Semantic Scholar 2016 · Article (Interacción)
Trajectory Recovery System: Angle of Attack Guidance for Inflight Loss of Control
This paper describes the design and development of an ecological display to aid pilots in the recovery of an In-Flight Loss of Control event due to a Stall (ILOC-S).
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2010 · Accident report
Loss of Control on Approach — Colgan Air Flight 3407
Colgan Air 3407 / Continental Connection (Q400) Buffalo NY, February 12, 2009 — 50 fatalities. Definitive investigation of the Colgan 3407 stall-stick-pusher crash on approach to Buffalo.
- 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 …
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Scoping Review of Aviation Loss of Control Inflight Research
Loss of control – inflight (LOC-I) contributes to aircraft accidents at unacceptably high rates. Significant industry efforts and research have aimed to improve LOC-I prevention, detection, and recove…
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Quadratic Programming Approach to Flight Envelope Protection Using Control Barrier Functions
Ensuring the safe operation of aerospace systems within their prescribed flight envelope is a fundamental requirement for modern flight control systems.
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article
Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I) — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary comprehensive knowledge-base entry on Loss of Control In-Flight — definitions, contributing factors, accident case studies (Air France 447, Colgan 3407), and prevention strategies.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗