- Date
- October 23, 1997, 13:26 local (20:26 UTC)
- Place
- Fullerton, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8203PPiper PA-24-250
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 21, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19971023030869A
- Case key
- 29983
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 directional control of the airplane during landing roll, which resulted in an inadvertent ground swerve and subsequent damage to the airplane.
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 reported that the landing was routine through landing touchdown. There was a quartering left crosswind at 12 knots. During rollout, the aircraft veered to the left, and the pilot was unable to keep the aircraft on the runway despite input of right rudder and brake control. Tire skid marks on the runway, made by the nose wheel and right main tires of the aircraft, started about 1,000 feet from the landing threshold. Approximately 500 feet further along the runway, the left main tire mark became visible as the marks angled toward the left edge of the runway. The marks from the right and left main gear converged at the left edge of the runway approximately 200 feet further along the runway.
Factual narrative
On October 23, 1997, at 1326 hours Pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-24-250, N8203P, veered off runway 24 during landing at Fullerton Municipal Airport, Fullerton, California. The aircraft was substantially damaged and the private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight which originated in Albuquerque, New Mexico, about 1000 MDT.
The pilot told the Safety Board that the flight was routine through landing touchdown. During rollout, the aircraft veered to the left and he was unable to keep the aircraft on the runway despite input of right rudder and brake control. On his report to the airport operations office, prepared on the day of the accident, the pilot described the incident as "loss control on roll out - felt gear or brake problem."
According to an inspector from the FAA's Long Beach Flight Standards District Office, tire skid marks on runway 24 made by the nose wheel and right main tires of the aircraft started about 1,000 feet from the landing threshold. Approximately 500 feet further along the runway, the left main tire mark became visible as the marks angled toward the left edge of the runway. The marks from the right and left main gear converged at the left edge of the runway approximately 200 feet further along the runway. Witnesses reported to the inspector that the aircraft came to rest approximately 25 feet into the grass area to the left of the runway, heading southeast.
There was a quartering left crosswind at 12 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8203P
- Reported as
- Piper PA-24-250
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24-3455
- Airframe hours
- 3,496
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-A1D5, 250 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Milford V. Smith
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 1, 1997 · 40 hours before
- Departed
- ABQ · Albuquerque, NM
- Destination
- FUL
- Airport
- FUL · Fullerton Municipal, runway 24, 3,121 × 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
- 55
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 314 total · 90 in this make and model · 237 as pilot in command · 29 in the last 90 days · 24 in the last 30 days · 12 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- FUL
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 N8203P · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.