NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX92FA305
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE PILOT'S IMPROPER PREFLIGHT PERFORMANCE PLANNING AND DECISION TO OPERATE THE AIRPLANE OVER THE MAXIMUM CERTIFIED GROSS WEIGHT AT A HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE AIRPORT WHICH RESULTED IN AN INADVERTENT STALL. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE INSPECTIONS DURING THE THREE PRECEDING ANNUAL INSPECTIONS WHICH FAILED TO DETECT BROKEN GEAR TEETH FROM A PREVIOUS MAINTENANCE DEFICIENCY WHICH ACCELERATED THE ENGINE WEAR THROUGH FOREIGN OBJECT DAMAGE.
Factual narrative
A CESSNA 175A DESCENDED DURING THE INITIAL TAKEOFF CLIMB AND COLLIDED WITH A TREE ABOUT ONE QUARTER MILE FROM THE AIRPORT. THE PILOT HAND PROPPED THE AIRPLANE TO START THE ENGINE. THE AIRPLANE THEN TAXIED FOR DEPARTURE WITH THREE OTHER ADULTS IN THE AIRPLANE. THE AIRPLANE CLIMBED TO ABOUT TWENTY FEET AND DID NOT GAIN ALTITUDE. THE AIRPLANE WAS DETERMINED TO BE 21 POUNDS OVER GROSS WEIGHT. THE DENSITY ALTITUDE WAS 8,800 FEET ABOVE MEAN SEA LEVEL. EXAMINATION OF THE ENGINE REVEALED METAL PARTICLES SUSPENDED IN THE ENGINE OIL. ANALYSIS OF THE ENGINE OIL REVEALED ENGINE WEAR TO BE HIGH FOR THE 13 HOURS SINCE THE LAST OIL CHANGE. TEETH FROM A BROKEN STARTER DRIVE GEAR WERE FOUND IN THE ENGINE OIL SUMP. THE STARTER DRIVE HAD BEEN REPLACED 3.5 YEARS BEFORE THE ACCIDENT. THREE ANNUAL INSPECTIONS WERE COMPLETED IN THE 3 YEAR PERIOD. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1992_LAX92FA305.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
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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, maintenance). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2023 · Conference paper
The Value of Strong Partnerships to Build a Successful Aviation Maintenance Career Pathway Program for Transitioning Military Service Members
The aerospace industry is competing with other industries for a qualified workforce, and many of those competing industries are investing heavily in creating workforce development pipelines.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2026 · Journal article (IJAAA)
From Reactive to Predictive: A hybrid Trust-Mediated Adoption Framework for Data-Driven Maintenance in Distributed-Authority Aviation Environments
Modern aviation maintenance operates within increasingly data-intensive technological environments, yet the operational integration of predictive maintenance into routine decision-making remains incon…
- 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 …
- Semantic Scholar 2025 · Article (Applied Sciences)
Decision-Making Framework for Aviation Safety in Predictive Maintenance Strategies
The implementation of predictive maintenance (PM) in aviation presents unique challenges due to strict safety requirements, complex operational environments, and regulatory constraints.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2024 · Journal article (JAAER)
Low-Resource Automatic Speech Recognition Domain Adaptation – A Case-Study in Aviation Maintenance
With timeliness and efficiency being critical in the aviation maintenance industry, the need has been growing for smart technological solutions that optimize and streamline the different underlying ta…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2024 · Journal article (JAAER)
A New Trajectory in UAV Safety: Leveraging Reinforcement Learning for Distance Maintenance Under Wind Variations
In the field of aviation, safety is a critical cornerstone, and the operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems is deeply connected with this principle.
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