- Date
- June 14, 1996, 16:10 local (23:10 UTC)
- Place
- Las Vegas, NV
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N6420PPiper PA-24-250
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 25, 1997
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960614014059A
- Case key
- 29482
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 inadvertent turn onto a vehicular access road instead of a taxiway at a large unfamiliar airport, and his diverted attention.
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
After the pilot made a 10-minute daylight flight and landing to an unfamiliar airport, he received taxi instructions from the ground controller. The pilot was talking to the ground and inadvertently turned onto a vehicular access road and collided with 22 construction fence posts.
Factual narrative
On June 14, 1996, at 1610 hours Pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-24-250, N6420P, operated by the private pilot, taxied into fence posts following landing at the McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the personal flight. The airplane was substantially damaged. Neither the commercial pilot nor the two passengers were injured. The daytime flight originated from North Las Vegas at 1600.
The pilot reported that he was not familiar with the airport. At the time of the collision he was communicating with the ground controller and was receiving taxi instructions to a fixed-base operator. The pilot indicated that when he heard a "thumping sound" he looked to the left and observed that the left "wing was being eaten by a construction fence." The pilot further reported that the controller indicated he had taxied onto a vehicular access road and had missed the desired taxiway turnoff.
An examination of the airplane by an airplane mechanic from Eagle Jet Charter revealed that between 4 and 5 feet of the left wing's leading edge span had been crushed in an inward direction. Also, four wing ribs and two stringers were bent when the pilot collided with 22 fence posts near its facility.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6420P
- Reported as
- Piper PA-24-250
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24-1530
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-A1A5, 250 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- L. Scott Brooksby
- Registered owner
- Acft. Instruction & Rental Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 23, 1995
- Departed
- VGT · Las Vegas, NV
- Destination
- LAS · Las Vegas, NV
- Airport
- LAS · Mccarran International, runway 19R, 5,002 × 75 ft, asphalt
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
- 39
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 482 total · 73 in this make and model · 450 as pilot in command · 37 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 150° at 8 knots, gusting 21
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 100 °F, dew point 23 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- LAS
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.