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LAX90LA272 · Stinson L-5B

1 Aug 1990 · Victorville, CA, United States

World Wide Aeronautical Stinson L-5B · Accident: airframe, component or system failure en route

From Apple Valley Airport (APV) to Santa Paula Airport (SZP)

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Event

NTSB case
LAX90LA272
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
General aviation
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Stinson L-5B

Aircraft type
Stinson L-5
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N1718M
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Apple Valley Airport (APV), Apple Valley, CATo Santa Paula Airport (SZP), Santa Paula, CA
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 91: General Aviation
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
En route · cruise
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Airframe, component or system failure
Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
Stall
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Fluid, oil › Leak
  • Lubricating system, oil line › Loose
  • Pilot in command › Airspeed, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

WHILE EN ROUTE TO SANTA PAULA AIRPORT OVER A DESERT AREA, THE PILOT FELT A HOT OIL SPRAY EMANATING FROM BEHIND THE INSTRUMENT PANEL. HE ELECTED TO LAND IN AN OPEN FIELD. THE LANDING SITE SELECTED WAS NEAR HIGH TRANSMISSION WIRES, WHICH HE PROBABLY DID NOT SEE UNTIL THE AIRPLANE WAS ON FINAL APPROACH. THE PILOT PULLED THE AIRPLANE'S NOSE UP TO CROSS OVER THE TOP OF THE WIRES AND ALLOWED THE AIRSPEED TO RAPIDLY DECAY. THE AIRPLANE STALLED AND COLLIDED WITH THE TERRAIN. THE POST-ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE OIL PRESSURE GAUGE LINE 'B' NUT HAD BACKED OFF.

Probable cause

THE OIL GAUGE LINE 'B' NUT BACKED OFF, AND THE PILOT FAILED TO MAINTAIN AIRSPEED.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX90LA272
Event ID
20001212X24041
Case number
LAX90LA272
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1990-08-02.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: a4070d13a669c9596e825c3934e5aad8fb0cd72d3d9117aa4b8a8875de1fd2d1; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:47:18.172Z.