Skip to content

SEA90FA183

1990-09-15 · HOOD RIVER, Oregon, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT IN COMMAND'S ENCOUNTERING SPATIAL DISORIENTATION AND HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN AIRSPEED.

Factual narrative

THE RECENTLY CERT PRIVATE PILOT WHO WAS NOT RATED FOR INST FLT TOOK OFF AT NIGHT ON A VFR X-COUNTRY FLT INTO AN AREA OF KNOWN IMC WX. WHEN THE FLT ENCOUNTERED ADVERSE WX, THE PILOT REVERSED COURSE AND ATTEMPTED TO LAND AT AN UNFAMILIAR ARPT. THE ACFT TOUCHED DOWN LONG AND THE PILOT ANNOUNCED ON UNICOM THAT HE WAS MAKING A GO-AROUND. THE ACFT CLIMBED TO ABOUT 200 FT AGL, STALLED AND DESCENDED NOSE DOWN UNTIL IT IMPACTED THE GROUND. SKY WAS OVERCAST AND MODERATE RAIN WAS FALLING. THERE WAS NO ARTIFICIAL LIGHT IN THE DIRECTION OF FLT. THE PILOT HAD 5 HRS NIGHT TIME AND NONE OUTSIDE A LIGHTED METRO AREA. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_SEA90FA183.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, spatial disorientation, go-around, imc). All research papers