- Date
- January 19, 1990, 19:45 local (Jan 20, 1990, 03:45 UTC)
- Place
- Sacramento, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N38908Piper PA-32-R-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report September 28, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900119005719A
- Case key
- 26748
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
An inadvertent collision with a large bird during the hours of darkness while in the landing pattern.
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 pilot of a Piper PA32 encountered a large bird while on downwind for landing. The bird impacted the horizontal elevator causing it to bind. The aircraft landed safely with no more difficulties. The damage to the elevator required its removal and replacement.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N38908
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32-R-300 (PA-32-R-30)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32R-7780487
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-K1A5, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Disbrow, Eric
- Departed
- MCE · Merced, CA
- Airport
- SAC · Sacramento Executive
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
- 44
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 1,603 total · 1,000 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 120° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 39 °F, dew point 36 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N38908 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.