Skip to content

Atlas / NTSB / LAX97LA273

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX97LA273

1997-08-06 PACOIMA, California, United States Airport · WHP None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N76102

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 140

Year of manufacture

1946 · 51 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR C85 SERIES (85 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19560220

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AA47B2

Registrant of record

JOHNSON LAWRENCE F

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control of the aircraft during landing.

Factual narrative

On August 6, 1997, at 0945 hours Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 140, N76102, ground looped during the landing rollout on runway 12 and nosed over at the Whiteman Airport, Pacoima, California. The aircraft sustained substantial damage. The pilot/owner and passenger were not injured. Visual meterological conditions existed for the local personal flight and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated from the Whiteman Airport at 0920. An Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector from the Van Nuys, California, Flight Standards District Office, reported that on the landing rollout the pilot attempted to correct his runway alignment and raised the tail for better control, and that the pilot may have "touched brakes." The aircraft ground looped to the left and nosed over, coming to rest on it's back. An FAA inspector examined the aircraft and no mechanical discrepancies were found. After landing the pilot attempted to correct his runway alignment. He raised the tail for better control of the aircraft and ground looped to the left, then subsequently nosed over. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1997_LAX97LA273.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. 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 ↗