Skip to content

Atlas / NTSB / LAX91LA300

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX91LA300

1991-07-08 RENO, Nevada, United States Airport · RNO None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N3011T

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 320C

Year of manufacture

1964 · 27 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR TSI0-470-B (260 hp)

Seats / Engines

6 seats · 2 engines

Last airworthiness date

19641110

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A32596

Registrant of record

BRANSON WEST DEVELOPMENT INC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE FATIGUE FAILURE OF THE PROPELLER FEATHERING COUNTER WEIGHT CLAMP ASSEMBLY.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT STATED THAT HE APPLIED FULL POWER AND THE AIRCRAFT WAS ACCELERATING THROUGH 30 KNOTS ON THE TAKEOFF GROUND ROLL WHEN HE HEARD A LOUD EXPLOSION. THE PILOT ABORTED THE TAKEOFF AND TAXIED BACK TO THE RAMP. INSPECTION OF THE AIRCRAFT REVEALED THAT A CLAMP WHICH RETAINS ONE OF THE FEATHERING COUNTER WEIGHTS ON THE LEFT PROPELLER HAD SEPARATED, AND THE COUNTER WEIGHT PENETRATED THROUGH THE NOSE STRUCTURE OF THE AIRCRAFT. THE FAILED CLAMP ASSEMBLY WAS SENT TO THE FACTORY UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE FAA CHICAGO AIRCRAFT CERTIFICATION OFFICE FOR DETAILED ANALYSIS. ACCORDING TO THE REPORT OF THE EXAMINATION, THE FRACTURE WAS FOUND TO BE OF A FATIGUE TYPE, WITH THE ORIGIN ON THE LOWER INSIDE CORNER OF THE STEEL STRAP. CHEMICAL AND HARDNESS TESTS OF THE ASSEMBLY REVEALED THAT THE PART MET SPECIFICATIONS. THE REASON FOR THE FRACTURE INITIATION WAS UNDETERMINED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_LAX91LA300.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. 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 ↗