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MIA89FA154

1989-05-24 · FORT PIERCE, Florida, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport FPR

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

FAILURE OF THE STUDENT PILOT TO MAINTAIN AIRSPEED WHICH RESULTED IN AN INADVERTENT STALL. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE: THE WEATHER CONDITIONS (SMOKE & HAZE), THE STUDENT BECOMING LOST, HER LACK OF TOTAL EXPERIENCE, AND HER INABILITY TO UNDERSTAND ATC INSTRUCTIONS AFTER SHE BECAME LOST.

Factual narrative

A JAPANESE NATIONAL/STUDENT PLT BECAME LOST ON HER 1ST FLT OUTSIDE THE ARPT TRAFFIC AREA. TOWER & APCH CONTROL PERSONNEL ATTEMPTED TO IDENTIFY THE ACFT ON RADAR, BUT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL. THE PLT FLEW NORTHBOUND UNTIL THE ACFT FLEW OVER AN ARPT, THEN SHE ENTERED THE TRAFFIC PATTERN TO LAND. AS SHE CONTINUED IN THE PATTERN, SHE SAW ANOTHER ACFT AHEAD ON A SHORT FINAL APCH. SHE MADE A 360 DEG TURN THEN CONTD THE APCH. AFTER ATTEMPTING TO LAND BEHIND THE OTHER ACFT, THE STUDENT'S ACFT STALLED, ENTERED A STEEP DESCENT & CRASHED AT MIDFIELD, ABOUT 250 FT LEFT OF THE RWY. NO PREIMPACT FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION OF THE ACFT WAS RPRTD. THE STUDENT RPRTD THAT SHE HAD GOTTEN LOST AFTER ENCOUNTERINGSMOKE & HAZE. THE SMOKE WAS CAUSED BY AN EVERGLADE'S FIRE. THE STUDENT DID NOT SPEAK ENGLISH WELL & HAD DIFFICULTY COMMUNICATING WITH ATC PERSONNEL AFTER BECOMING LOST. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_MIA89FA154.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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