- Date
- May 20, 2005, 16:40 local (23:40 UTC)
- Place
- Oxnard, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N8460NPiper PA-28-181
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 13, 2005
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20050520011119A
- Case key
- 61555
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
the pilot's failure to maintain an adequate clearance from the building. The pilot's diverted attention was a factor.
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 airplane's left wing impacted a building while the pilot was taxiing toward a transient parking area following an uneventful landing. When the pilot commenced a right turn and attempted to proceed between parked airplanes and a building, he diverted his attention toward the parked airplanes and misjudged his clearance from the building.
Factual narrative
On May 20, 2005, about 1640 Pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-28-181, N8460N, taxied into a building following an uneventful landing at the Oxnard Airport, Oxnard, California. Air Desert Pacific Corporation, La Verne, California, operated the airplane under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The airplane was substantially damaged. The private pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured during the personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed. The flight originated from La Verne about 1530.
The pilot indicated to the National Transportation Safety Board investigator that after landing he requested and received an air traffic control clearance to taxi to the transient parking area. The pilot reported that while taxiing he commenced a right turn and attempted to proceed between parked airplanes and a building. While looking to the right at a nearby parked airplane, his airplane's left wing impacted the building.
The pilot was certificated as a private pilot on May 3, 2005.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8460N
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-181
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-8290055
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Air Desert Pacific Corp
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- POC · La Verne, CA
- Destination
- OXR · Oxnard, CA
- Airport
- OXR · Oxnard
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
- 37
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 114 total · 114 in this make and model · 114 in the last 90 days · 66 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 11 knots
- Visibility
- 8 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.86 inHg
- Observed at
- OXR
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.