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Atlas / NTSB / LAX91LA347

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX91LA347

1991-08-04 NAPA, California, United States None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N835B

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BEECH J35

Year of manufacture

1958 · 33 years old at event

TCDS

3A15 · BEECH AIRCRAFT CORP NKA TEXTRON AVIATION INC

Engine

CONT MOTOR I0-470 SERIES (260 hp)

Seats / Engines

5 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19580314

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AB6B06

Registrant of record

BUSIGIN TIKHON

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE INSTALLATION OF A NON COMPATIABLE OIL FILTER AND SYSTEM PLUMBING CHANGES WHICH INDUCED THE OIL EXHAUSTION EVENT RESULTING IN A FORCED LANDING AND IN FLIGHT COLLISION WITH TERRAIN.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT SAID THE AIRCRAFT WAS IN CRUISE FLIGHT WHEN THE OIL PRESSURE SUDDENLY DROPPED. THE ENGINE BEGAN TO RUN ROUGH, THEN SEIZED ALTOGETHER. THE AIRCRAFT WAS CLOSE TO A PRIVATE AIRSTRIP AND THE PILOT WAS ATTEMPTING A FORCED LANDING ON THE AIRSTRIP. THE AIRCRAFT LANDED SHORT OF THE RUNWAY IN A GRAPE VINEYARD. RESPONDING SHERIFF'S DEPUTIES REPORTED THAT THE ENTIRE BELLY OF THE AIRCRAFT WAS HEAVILY COATED WITH OIL. FAA AIRWORTHINESS INSPECTORS EXAMINED THE AIRCRAFT AND FOUND THAT AN AUTOMOTIVE FRAM OIL FILTER WAS INSTALLED ON THE ENGINE, WITH SOME PLUMBING CHANGES. THE INSPECTOR STATED THAT THE OIL FILTER FAILED TO BYPASS OIL. THE OUTSIDE CASE OF THE FILTER WAS FOUND TO HAVE EXPANDED TO ABOUT 125 PERCENT OF NORMAL SIZE AND WAS LEAKING OIL. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_LAX91LA347.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 (stall). 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 ↗