- Date
- October 4, 1987, 21:27 local (Oct 5, 1987, 04:27 UTC)
- Place
- Los Angeles, CA
- Injuries
- 148 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N604PBoeing 767-201
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed · report July 3, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19871004061869A
- Case key
- 25780
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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 captain sensed the aircraft ballooning during the flare. He increased the pitch angle to 11.8 degrees to arrest the descent during touchdown. Flight attendants sitting in the aft cabin crew seats heard a scraping sound just prior to main landing gear touchdown. The tail struck the runway surface during the flare. The aft pressure dome was scraped, bent, and buckled. The captain attributed the ballooning to wake turbulence of a preceeding DC-8 arrival. According to the manufacturer 11.0 degrees is the maximum pitch angle with the oleos compressed. The FDR readout did not indicate the presence of wake turbulence. The captain had recently been type-rated in the Boeing 767 and had accrued a total of 46 hours in the aircraft, 4.5 hours of which was on the accident flight.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N604P
- Reported as
- Boeing 767-201
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 23898
- Airframe hours
- 1,233
- Engine
- GE CF6-80C2-B2, 52,500 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- Piedmont Aviation, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Meridan Trust Company
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Departed
- CLT · Charlotte, NC
- Destination
- LAX · Los Angeles, CA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- LAX · Los Angeles Int'L, runway 25L, 11,096 × 200 ft, concrete
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 47
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 13,582 total · 46 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- 250° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- LAX, 1 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.