NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX92FA161
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE STUDENT PILOT'S INADVERTENT USE OF THE MIXTURE CONTROL INSTEAD OF THE COWL FLAPS AT A CRITICAL PHASE OF FLIGHT, HIS MISUSE OF THE FLIGHT CONTROLS AFTER THE ENGINE FAILURE AND THE INSTRUCTOR'S INADEQUATE SUPERVISION OF THE STUDENT. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS IN THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE NON STANDARD LOCATION OF THE COWL FLAP PUSH PULL CONTROL, DUE TO AN IMPROPER AIRCRAFT MODIFICATION, THE DARK NIGHT LIGHT CONDITIONS WHICH IMPAIRED THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTORS ABILITY TO MONITOR THE STUDENT COCKPIT CONTROL MANIPULATIONS.
Factual narrative
THE 60 HOUR STUDENT PILOT HAD A TOTAL OF 25 HOURS IN TYPE, ALL OF WHICH WERE DUAL. WITH HIS CURRENT FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR THE STUDENT RETURNED TO THEIR HOME BASE AIRPORT TO PERFORM A PREARRANGED GO-AROUND TO FINALIZE THEIR DUAL PERIOD FOR THE EVENING. AFTER THE APPROACH TO THE RUNWAY, THE INSTRUCTOR CALLED FOR THE GO-AROUND. AFTER THE CLIMB WAS ESTABLISHED AT ABOUT 500 FEET AGL HE CALLED FOR THE COWL FLAPS TO BE OPENED, AND MOMENTS LATER THE ENGINE SUDDENLY AND WITHOUT WARNING QUIT. THE INSTRUCTOR SAID THAT AFTER THE ENGINE QUIT THE STUDENT PULLED THE CONTROL YOKE ALL THE WAY BACK AND THE AIRCRAFT ENTERED A DEEP STALL. THE AIRPLANE HAD BEEN MODIFIED TO ACCOMMODATE AN ENGINE WITH MORE HORSE POWER WHICH REQUIRED THE INSTALLATION OF COWL FLAPS. THE FAA APPROVED STC MODIFICATION DRAWINGS REQUIRED THE PUSH-PULL CONTROL FOR THE COWL FLAPS TO BE LOCATED TO THE LEFT OF THE THROTTLE CONSOLE ON A SEPARATE SWITCH PANEL. THE ACTUAL LOCATION OF THAT CONTROL IN THE ACCIDENT AIRPLANE WAS FOUND TO THE RIGHT OF THE THROTTLE BELOW THE PROPELLER CONTROL AND NEXT TO Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1992_LAX92FA161.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, engine failure, go-around). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Validation of Proposed Go-Around Criteria Under Various Environmental Conditions
This paper evaluates the effects of environmental conditions on touchdown performance under varying approach states and validates proposed go-around criteria developed using data from a previously con…
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Pilot Evaluation of Proposed Go-Around Criteria for Transport Category Aircraft
The primary objective of this study was to capture pilot feedback and decision-making with regard to proposed, hypothetical, go-around criteria that were developed based on previous research.
- 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 …
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Conference Paper
A Training Study to Improve Monitoring During A Go-Around
As part of an FAA program to improve go-around (GA) safety, we were asked to determine if we could improve the performance of the Pilot Monitoring (PM) during a GA maneuver.
- Flight Safety Foundation 2024 · FSF / AeroSafety World
Go-Around Safety Forum Findings
Foundation Go-Around Safety Forum technical findings — examines why pilots fail to execute go-arounds when criteria are met (stabilized approach gate not met, energy state out of envelope, traffic con…
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Automating Bird Diverter Installation through Multi-Aerial Robots and Signal Temporal Logic Specifications
This paper tackles the task assignment and trajectory generation problem for bird diverter installation using a fleet of multi-rotors.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗