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Atlas / NTSB / LAX93FA186

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX93FA186

1993-04-25 TUCSON, Arizona, United States Airport · TUS Fatal 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N158WB

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

DIAMOND AIRCRAFT DA 40 NG

Year of manufacture

2020

Engine

AUSTRO E4-A (168 hp)

Seats / Engines

5 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20240418

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A0E9DD

Registrant of record

TVPX AIRCRAFT SOLUTIONS INC TRUSTEE

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOTS IMPROPER PREFLIGHT INSPECTION, HIS FAILURE TO COMPELTELY SECURE THE AFT UTILITY DOOR, AND HIS FAILURE TO RECONFIGURE THE TRIM TABS TO A TAKEOFF SETTING. THE UTILITY DOOR'S SUDDEN OPENING JUST AFTER ROTATION AND THE EFFECT OF THE NOSE UP TRIM SETTING LED TO AN INADVERTENT STALL DURING THE TAKEOFF INITIAL CLIMB.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT HAD RECENTLY PURCHASED THE TWIN ENGINE AIRPLANE AND HAD ACCUMULATED ABOUT 123 TOTAL HOURS OF MULTI ENGINE TIME, WITH ABOUT 115 HOURS IN THE ACCIDENT AIRPLANE. WITNESSES STATED THAT JUST AFTER ROTATION THE AIRPLANE PITCHED UP ABRUPTLY AND ROTATED TO THE RIGHT IMPACTING THE GROUND ABOUT 2000 FEET BEYOND THE APPROXIMATE POINT OF ROTATION AND ABOUT 1500 FEET TO THE RIGHT OF THE RUNWAY CENTER LINE. POST CRASH EXAMINATION OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED THAT THE AFT UTILITY DOORS WERE UNLATCHED, WITH THE AFT DOOR ROTATED REARWARD AGAINST THE FUSELAGE AND THE EXTENSION LIMITING HINGES SHEARED AT THE HINGE PIN. THE ELEVATOR TRIM TABS WERE FOUND IN THE LANDING CONFIGURATION WITH TAB DEFLECTIONS AT ABOUT 9 DEGREES DOWN. THE RUDDER TRIM TAB WAS FOUND 20 DEGREES LEFT DEFLECTION. BOTH ENGINES WERE REMOVED TO AN ENGINE OVERHAUL FACILITY FOR DETAILED EXAMINATION. NO MECHANICAL DISCREPANCIES WERE FOUND AND POWER AND ROTATION SIGNATURES WERE EVIDENT. THE AIRPLANE WAS DEPARTING ON RUNWAY 11L FROM TAXIWAY 6 WITH A NINE KNOT TAILWIND AND 9950 FEET OF RUNWAY Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1993_LAX93FA186.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 ↗