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LAX92LA124

1992-02-22 · SAN JOSE, California, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport RHV

N126NK has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (SCHWEIZER SGS 1-26E), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THAT THE CERTIFIED FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR'S (CFI) MISJUDGED APPROACH WHICH RESULTED IN A LONG LANDING, THE CFI'S IN-FLIGHT DECISION TO A GO-AROUND WITH PARTIAL POWER, AND THE FAILURE OF THE CFI TO MAINTAIN AIRCRAFT CONTROL IN THE INITIAL CLIMB SEGMENT OF THE PARTIAL POWER GO-AROUND RESULTING IN AN INADVERTENT STALL. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE INSPECTION PERFORMED BY THE OPERATOR'S MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL AFTER THE INITIAL STUCK VALVE DEFICIENCY AND THE DECISION OF THE CFI TO OPERATE THE AIRPLANE WITH A KNOWN DISCREPANCY.

Factual narrative

A CESSNA 150 CRASHED AFTER EXPERIENCING AN IN FLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL. DURING THE INITIAL TAKEOFF ON RUNWAY 31R THE CFI TRANSMITTED A 'MAY DAY' CALL TO THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL TOWER STATING THE AIRPLANE HAD A PARTIAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER. THE LOCAL CONTROLLER CLEARED THE FLIGHT TO LAND ON ANY RUNWAY. THE PILOT EXECUTED A 180 DEGREE TURN AND LANDED LONG ON RUNWAY 13L. THE CFI THEN ATTEMPTED A GO-AROUND. WITNESSES OBSERVED THE AIRPLANE CLIMB TO 50 FEET AND THEN ENTER A RIGHT SKIDDING TURN, STALL, AND SPIN, IMPACTING THE GROUND OUTSIDE OF THE AIRPORT BOUNDARY. THE CFI INDICATED THAT THE AIRPLANE'S ENGINE HAD PREVIOUSLY MALFUNCTIONED WITH A STICKING VALVE AND THOUGHT THE VALVE WAS STICKING AGAIN. THE POST ACCIDENT EXAMIATION OF THE ENGINE REVEALED THE NUMBER 4 CYLINDER ROCKER ARM VALVE MALFUNCTIONED AS A RESULT OF A FRACTURED ROCKER ARM SHAFT BOSS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1992_LAX92LA124.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, loss of control, go-around, maintenance). All research papers