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Atlas / NTSB / LAX92LA056

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX92LA056

1991-12-01 PALO ALTO, California, United States Airport · PAO None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N3170Z

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER PA-22-150

Year of manufacture

1959 · 32 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19591118

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A36342

Registrant of record

GARRITY FRANK B

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL DURING THE LANDING ROLLOUT.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT REPORTED THAT HIS AIRPLANE HAD BEEN MODIFIED BY THE INSTALLATION OF A TAIL WHEEL ASSEMBLY. ACCORDING TO THE PILOT, HE LANDED ON RUNWAY 12 AND DURING ROLLOUT LOST DIRECTIONAL CONTROL. THEREAFTER, THE AIRPLANE GROUND LOOPED. AT THE TIME THE WIND WAS FROM 120 DEGREES AT 5 KNOTS. DURING THE POST-ACCIDENT EXAMINATION OF THE AIRPLANE NO EVIDENCE WAS FOUND OF ANY MECHANICAL MALFUNCTIONS. THE PILOT REPORTED HAVING 600 HOURS OF TAIL DRAGGER FLIGHT TIME. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_LAX92LA056.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 ↗