NTSB CAROL · Event
Event NYC90LA056
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
IMPROPER MAINTENANCE, INADEQUATE SURVEILLANCE BY THE COMPANY/OPERATOR, AND INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT BY THE PILOT, WHICH RESULTED IN A FIRE DURING AN ATTEMPTED ENGINE START. A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS: THE UNSECURED FUEL LINE.
Factual narrative
THE CESSNA 172 WAS INVOLVED IN A CARBURETOR FIRE ON 1/13/90 & TAKEN TO A HANGAR WHERE THE AIR CLEANER & CARBURETOR WERE REMOVED. THE FUEL LINE WAS NOT CAPPED & THE LOWER COWLING WAS REATTACHED WITH ONLY TWO SCREWS HOLDING IT. NO PLACARD WAS PLACED IN THE COCKPIT NOR WAS THE KEY MADE UNAVAILABLE FOR RENTAL. THE PLANE WAS RETURNED TO THE LINE FOR PARKING. THREE DAYS LATER, A PILOT CAME TO THE AIRPORT, ASKED THE ATTENDANT FOR THE KEY & PROCEEDED TO THE PLANE. HE SAID HE MADE A PREFLIGHT 'USING THE MANUAL.' HE THEN ENTERED THE COCKPIT & ATTEMPTED TO START THE ENGINE. HOWEVER, A FIRE ERUPTED & THE PLT EXITED THE AIRPLANE THROUGH THE FIRE, RECEIVING BURNS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1990_NYC90LA056.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 (maintenance). 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 2019 · Conference Paper
Crash Testing and Simulation of a Cessna 172 Aircraft: Pitch Down Impact Onto Soft Soil
During the summer of 2015, NASA Langley Research Center conducted three full-scale crash tests of Cessna 172 (C-172) aircraft at the NASA Langley Landing and Impact Research (LandIR) Facility.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM)
Simulating the Impact Response of Three Full-Scale Crash Tests of Cessna 172 Aircraft
During the summer of 2015, a series of three full-scale crash tests were performed at the Landing and Impact Research Facility located at NASA Langley Research Center of Cessna 172 aircraft.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2026 · Journal article (IJAAA)
From Reactive to Predictive: A hybrid Trust-Mediated Adoption Framework for Data-Driven Maintenance in Distributed-Authority Aviation Environments
Modern aviation maintenance operates within increasingly data-intensive technological environments, yet the operational integration of predictive maintenance into routine decision-making remains incon…
- Semantic Scholar 2025 · Article (Applied Sciences)
Decision-Making Framework for Aviation Safety in Predictive Maintenance Strategies
The implementation of predictive maintenance (PM) in aviation presents unique challenges due to strict safety requirements, complex operational environments, and regulatory constraints.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2024 · Journal article (JAAER)
Low-Resource Automatic Speech Recognition Domain Adaptation – A Case-Study in Aviation Maintenance
With timeliness and efficiency being critical in the aviation maintenance industry, the need has been growing for smart technological solutions that optimize and streamline the different underlying ta…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2024 · Journal article (JAAER)
A New Trajectory in UAV Safety: Leveraging Reinforcement Learning for Distance Maintenance Under Wind Variations
In the field of aviation, safety is a critical cornerstone, and the operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems is deeply connected with this principle.
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