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Atlas / NTSB / LAX91LA392

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX91LA392

1991-09-11 RENO, Nevada, United States Airport · 4SD Minor 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N29931

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

NORTH AMERICAN AT-6G

Year of manufacture

1943 · 48 years old at event

Engine

P&W R1340 SERIES (600 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19820706

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A319C4

Registrant of record

TEXAN AERO PLAIN LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN AN ADEQUATE CLEARANCE BETWEEN THE AIRCRAFT AND THE GROUND WHILE MANEUVERING AROUND A PYLON, WHICH RESULTED IN A LOSS OF CONTROL DURING LANDING.

Factual narrative

THE AIRCRAFT WAS FLYING THE RENO AIR RACE COURSE DURING TRIALS. THE AIRCRAFT WAS ON THE RACE COURSE AND SEEMED TO ENTER A TURN AT ONE OF THE PYLONS AT A LOWER THAN NORMAL ALTITUDE. THE LEFT WING CONTACTED THE GROUND. THE PILOT WAS ABLE TO RECOVER THE AIRCRAFT TO LEVEL FLIGHT AND MADE A LEFT BASE ENTRY TO RUNWAY 18. AS THE AIRCRAFT TURNED FROM BASE TO FINAL, IT CONTINUED TO BANK TO THE LEFT UNTIL THE LEFT WING CONTRACTED THE GROUND AND THE AIRCRAFT CART WHEELED. ABOUT THREE FEET OF THE LEFT AILERON WAS FOUND AT THE PYLON WHERE THE FIRST WING CONTACT OCCURRED. THE PILOT SAID THAT THE AILERON CONTROLS WERE JAMMED AND HE COULD ONLY CONTROL THE AIRCRAFT IN ROLL BY USE OF THE RUDDER AND POWER CHANGES. AS THE AIRCRAFT TURNED FINAL FOR THE RUNWAY, THE PILOT SAID HE REDUCED POWER HOWEVER, HE COULD NOT GET THE AIRCRAFT TO RESPOND FAST ENOUGH AND THE LEFT WING TIP CONTACTED THE GROUND. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_LAX91LA392.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 (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.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗