NTSB CAROL · Event
Event SEA93LA156
Registry · N2AL
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
MOONEY M20R
Year of manufacture
1998
Engine
AMA/EXPR UNKNOWN ENG
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19980409
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A18D5C
Registrant of record
AL CORPORATION
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE LOSS OF ENGINE POWER DUE TO THE FAILURE OF THE IMPROPERLY MODIFIED MAGNETO AND LOSS OF CONTROL IN FLIGHT BY THE PIC WHILE MANEUVERING TO RETURN TO THE AIRPORT.
Factual narrative
On Sunday evening, July 17, 1993, at 1833 mountain daylight time, a Stark Rand KR-2, N2AL, registered to the pilot, impacted the ground eight miles north of Townsend, Montana, in an uncontrolled descent. There was no flight plan filed for the local personal flight, conducted under 14 CFR 91 in visual meteorological conditions, that had just taken off from the Canyon Ferry Airstrip. The private certificated pilot was fatally injured in the accident. The aircraft was destroyed in the mishap. There was no fire. Witnesses reported the aircraft entered a steep turn back toward the airstrip at a low altitude after takeoff. The aircraft nose dropped during the turn and the aircraft descended in a nose down attitude until it impacted the ground. The FAA inspector who examined the wreckage reported the pilot had been having problems with the aircraft engine during the week before the accident and that evidence indicated the engine was not operating at the time impact. He said an improper coil was installed on the engine magneto in the wreckage. THE ENGINE LOST POWER AT A LOW ALTITUDE DURING INITIAL CLIMB AFTER TAKEOFF AND THE PILOT INITIATED AN EMERGENCY TURN BACK TO THE AIRPORT. THE ACFT STALLED DURING THE TURN AND DESCENDED NOSE DOWN INTO THE GROUND. AN IMPROPER TYPE COIL, MODIFIED TO FIT, WAS INSTALLED IN THE ENGINE MAGNETO. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1993_SEA93LA156.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 (stall, loss of control). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Semantic Scholar 2016 · Article (Interacción)
Trajectory Recovery System: Angle of Attack Guidance for Inflight Loss of Control
This paper describes the design and development of an ecological display to aid pilots in the recovery of an In-Flight Loss of Control event due to a Stall (ILOC-S).
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2010 · Accident report
Loss of Control on Approach — Colgan Air Flight 3407
Colgan Air 3407 / Continental Connection (Q400) Buffalo NY, February 12, 2009 — 50 fatalities. Definitive investigation of the Colgan 3407 stall-stick-pusher crash on approach to Buffalo.
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Conference Paper
Computational Analysis of Steady State Aerodynamics of Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration in Deep Stall
This study presents a computational investigation of steady state aerodynamics of the Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration over a wide range …
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Scoping Review of Aviation Loss of Control Inflight Research
Loss of control – inflight (LOC-I) contributes to aircraft accidents at unacceptably high rates. Significant industry efforts and research have aimed to improve LOC-I prevention, detection, and recove…
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Quadratic Programming Approach to Flight Envelope Protection Using Control Barrier Functions
Ensuring the safe operation of aerospace systems within their prescribed flight envelope is a fundamental requirement for modern flight control systems.
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article
Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I) — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary comprehensive knowledge-base entry on Loss of Control In-Flight — definitions, contributing factors, accident case studies (Air France 447, Colgan 3407), and prevention strategies.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗