- Date
- October 20, 1990, 16:30 local (21:30 UTC)
- Place
- Levelland, TX
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N2448LPiper PA-38-125
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 14, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19901020046489A
- Case key
- 18005
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Inadvertent stall/spin at an altitude insufficient to effect recovery.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The flight was a scheduled student solo training flight. At the time the crash site was discovered by farm workers transiting the area, it was found that two persons were aboard, the student pilot, and a recently certified private pilot from the same flight school. Ground scarring indicate the aircraft had impacted upright, in a level attitude, with little forward speed. The private pilot had been observed on past flights to conduct low level flight and acrobatics. The aircraft was not certified for acrobatics and neither pilot had received acrobatic training.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2448L
- Reported as
- Piper PA-38-125
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 38-79A0706
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 112 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Levelland Aviation, Inc.
- Departed
- Q24
- Destination
- Q24
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 21
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 61 total · 38 in this make and model · 33 as pilot in command · 61 in the last 90 days · 47 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 10° at 22 knots, gusting 28
- Visibility
- 15,000,000 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- Q24, 6 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.