Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Los Angeles Intl Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Los Angeles, California 90045
Wednesday, April 18, 1990 4:33 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE REGULARLY SCHEDULED FEDERAL EXPRESS (FEDEX) DOMESTIC CARGO FLIGHT WAS ROUTINE WHEN IT ARRIVED OVER LOS ANGELES FROM MEMPHIS. THE CAPT CONDUCTED A PRELANDING BRIEFING FOR THE IMPENDING VISUAL APPROACH TO RUNWAY 07L AT LAX. THE BRIEFING INCLUDED SETTING THE VREF SPEEDS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE COMPANY FLIGHT OPERATIONS POLICY. THE COMPUTED VREF SPEED FOR LANDING AS 143 KNOTS; THE TOUCHDOWN SPEED WAS 138 KNOTS. THE PILOT FAILED TO MAINTAIN A STABILIZED APPROACH AND THE AIRSPEED DECREASED TO 138 KIAS WHEN CROSSING OVER THE THRESHOLD. FROM THAT POINT THE AIRSPEED BEGAN TO DECELERATE TO 122.3 KNOTS AT TOUCH DOWN WITH A PITCH ATTITUDE OF 11.1 DEG. AT TOUCHDOWN THE PITCH ATTITUDE CONTINUED TO INCREASE UNTIL THE TAILSTRICK OCCURRED AT A PITCH ATTITUDE OF 13.2 DEG. DFDR RECORDED DATA DISCLOSED THE CAPT RELAXED THE ELEVATOR CONTROL BACK PRESSURE BUT IT WAS NOT ENOUGH TO PREVENT THE TAIL STRIKE. THE FLT MANUAL RECOMMENDS THE PILOT TO LOWER THE NOSE UPON TOUCHDOWN TO COUNTERACT THE INCREASE IN PITCH ATTITUDE DUE TO GROUND SPOILER ACTIVATION.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
PILOT FAILED TO ADHERE TO ESTABLISHED LANDING PROCEDURES, MAINTAIN A STABILIZED APPROACH, AND ALLOWED THE AIRSPEED TO GO BELOW THE PREDICTED V.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/18/1990 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 433 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | LOS ANGELES |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90045 |
| Event Date Year | 1990 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | LOS ANGELES INTL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LAX |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 119 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 353 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LAX |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 119 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1700 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 8 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 6 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1432 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 18 1990 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 600 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 42743 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 12 2000 4:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N68056 |
| NTSB Number | LAX90FA148 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | McDonnell Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | DC-10-10F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | DC-10-10F |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 47810 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 449000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 3 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 26 1989 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 705 |
| Airframe Hours | 35301 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | MEMPHIS |
| Aircraft Owner State | TN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 38118 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | FDEA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MEM |
| Departure City | MEMPHIS |
| Departure State | TN |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 104 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 19 2004 3:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\HAMG |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | 12091 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |