# Incident 19781016033119I: Piper PA28161, Van Nuys, CA, October 16, 1978

- Type: FAA incident report (Accident/Incident Data System), as reported
- Date: October 16, 1978, 09:00 local time
- Place: Van Nuys, CA
- Airport: Municipal
- Damage: Minor damage
- Phase of flight: Other Ground Ops
- Operating rules: General operating rules (Part 91)
- Location: 34.1867° N, 118.4490° W: Placed by OpenAirDocs: center of Van Nuys, CA, within about 6 miles (OpenAirDocs)
- Nearby events: https://openairdocs.org/map.md?lat=34.1867&lon=-118.4490&mi=10
- Aircraft: N9887K, a cancelled registration (https://openairdocs.org/deregistered/N9887K-2017-02-06) (OpenAirDocs)
- Registry model: Piper PA-28-161 (registry code 7102803, https://openairdocs.org/model/piper-pa-28-161) (OpenAirDocs)
- Registry engine: Lycoming 0-320 series (registry code 41508, https://openairdocs.org/engine/lycoming-0-320-series) (OpenAirDocs)
- Reported make and model: PIPER PA28161
- People aboard: 1
- Fatal injuries: 0
- Pilot flight hours: 30,000 total, 300 in this make and model, 0 in the last 90 days
- FAA source: FAA Aviation Safety Information Portal (https://asip.faa.gov/)
- Page: https://openairdocs.org/incident/19781016033119I

## Narrative

As the FAA filed it, in capitals; the FAA replaces private details with ^PRIVACY DATA OMITTED^.

REAR SEAT SPRING CONTACTED BATTERY TERMINAL AND CAUSED A FIRE.

## Other reports on N9887K (1)

Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.

- [Accident 20150919019049A](https://openairdocs.org/incident/20150919019049A), Sep 19, 2015: Piper PA-28-161 (N9887K), Tarentum, PA, Destroyed. At approximately 11:30 am on Saturday September 19, 2015, at Northeast Pittsburgh airport (K9G1) pa, N9887K, a Piper PA-28-161 became engulfed in fire while…

From the FAA Accident/Incident Data System. Reports are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model. For accidents, the NTSB's own investigation is the fuller record.

---
OpenAirDocs.org is an independent research project of [Contrail Labs](https://contraillabs.com/). It is not affiliated with the FAA or the NTSB. Source documents are U.S. government works in the public domain.