NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX92LA326
Registry · N64MK
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
CHAMPION 7ECA
Year of manufacture
1966 · 26 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING O-235 (115 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
20250604
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A863FF
Registrant of record
CAVANAUGH SEAN M
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE STUDENT'S IMPROPER USE OF THE FLIGHT CONTROLS DURING AN ATTEMPTED RECOVERY FROM AN OVER ROTATION DURING THE FLARE, AND, THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR'S INADEQUATE SUPERVISION OF THE FLIGHT.
Factual narrative
ACCORDING TO THE STATEMENTS BY BOTH PILOTS, THE PURPOSE OF THE FLIGHT WAS TO CHECK OUT A NEW FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR ON THE HELICOPTER TYPE. WHILE PRACTICING AN AUTO ROTATION TO TOUCHDOWN, THE NEW FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR OVER ROTATED DURING THE FLARE AND SCRAPED THE TAIL SKID ON THE PAVEMENT. IN HIS STATEMENT, THE NEW FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR SAID HE THEN PULLED UP ON THE COLLECTIVE AND THE HELICOPTER BALLOONED UPWARD TO ABOUT 15 FEET AGL. THE MAIN ROTOR SPEED WAS LOW, AND, AS A RESULT, THE HELICOPTER LANDED HARD. THE MAIN ROTOR THEN FLEXED DOWNWARD AND SEVERED THE TAIL BOOM. THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR WHO WAS CHECKING OUT THE NEW PILOT SAID HE HAD HIS HANDS ON THE CONTROLS DURING THE MANEUVER BUT WAS 'UNABLE TO CORRECT FOR THE UNEXPECTED INPUT BY [THE STUDENT]' IN TIME TO PREVENT THE BALLOON AND THE SUBSEQUENT HARD LANDING. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1992_LAX92LA326.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 (icing). 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 2026 · Contractor Report (CR)
Icing Physics Studies Using the 3D SIDRM Test Article: 2023 Icing Tests Analysis
In-flight icing is an important safety issue and is a factor that affects aircraft design and performance. Newer regulations are driving a need for improvements in airframe and engine icing simulation…
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning for UAV-Assisted 5G Network Slicing: A Comparative Study of MAPPO, MADDPG, and MADQN
The growing demand for robust, scalable wireless networks in the 5G-and-beyond era has led to the deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as mobile base stations to enhance coverage in dense urb…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Mathematical Model on the Temporal Dynamics of Aviation Competitive Pricing
This study investigates the competitive dynamics of airport pricing using U.S. airport data to validate the findings. It employs linear and nonlinear ordinary differential equation models to analyze t…
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Presentation
NASA Icing Update – March 2025
This NASA Icing Update was prepared for presentation to the SAE International AC-9C Inflight Icing Technology Committee. This update includes the following topics: planned Rotational Icing Scaling tes…
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
An energy-stable phase-field model for droplet icing simulations
A phase-field model for three-phase flows is established by combining the Navier-Stokes (NS) and the energy equations, with the Allen-Cahn (AC) and Cahn-Hilliard (CH) equations and is demonstrated ana…
- NASA NTRS 2024 · Presentation
NASA Icing Update – Oct 2024
This presentation provides a status update on select NASA icing research activities for the SAE AC-9C Icing Technical Committee Meeting on Oct 21, 2024.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗