- Date
- September 10, 1996, 11:25 local (18:25 UTC)
- Place
- Lancaster, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N4308FPiper PA-28-140
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 20, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960910026749A
- Case key
- 29559
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
failure of the student pilot to maintain direction control of the airplane, which resulted in an inadvertent ground swerve and subsequent collapse of the nose gear, during an encountered with soft terrain.
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 student pilot was on his second supervised solo, performing a touch-and-go landing. He landed right of the runway centerline and corrected his alignment during the landing roll. He then added power, and the airplane veered left. The student attempted to correct back to the centerline, but the airplane started to skid, and it departed the runway. It then encountered soft terrain, and the nose gear collapsed. No pre-accident failure or malfunction of the airplane was reported. The wind was reported to be calm.
Factual narrative
On September 10, 1996, at 1125 hours Pacific daylight time, a Piper PA28-140, N4308F, collided with the runway shoulder after landing on runway 24 at the General William J. Fox Airport, Lancaster, California. The airplane sustained substantial damage and the student pilot was not injured. The airplane was being operated by AV Aviation, Lancaster, as an instructional flight. The local flight began about 1100. Visual instrument meteorological conditions prevailed.
The student pilot indicated he was on his second supervised solo with his first on September 5, 1996. The pilot completed five touch-and-go takeoffs and landings with his instructor earlier in the day. The instructor released the student pilot to practice his takeoffs and landings in the traffic pattern.
The student pilot was on his fourth solo landing when the accident occurred. He landed right of the runway centerline and corrected his alignment during the landing roll. He then added power and the airplane veered left. He attempted to correct back to the centerline, but the airplane started to skid and departed the runway. The nose gear collapsed in soft soil damaging the propeller and wing.
The student pilot also indicated that there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane on his accident report.
The air traffic control tower reported the winds were calm. Runway 24 is 5,001 feet long and 150 feet wide.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4308F
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-140
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-7725006
- Airframe hours
- 3,637
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E3D, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Av Aviation
- Registered owner
- Fattouch, Alfred G.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · July 19, 1996 · 77 hours before
- Departed
- WJF
- Airport
- WJF · General William J Fox, runway 24, 5,001 × 150 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
- 34
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 21 total · 20 in this make and model · 2 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days · 19 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- WJF, 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.
Other investigations on N4308F · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.