- Date
- November 10, 1998, 14:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Santa Barbara, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8258SPiper PA-28-161
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 16, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19981110034859A
- Case key
- 45295
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 inadequate compensation for the existing crosswind condition and failure to maintain proper runway alignment during landing flare.
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 aircraft collided with a runway marker sign during landing while the student pilot was on his first solo cross-country flight. The pilot reported that, while flaring for landing, he encountered a 'strong' crosswind from the right and that he landed with the aircraft angled toward the left side of the 75-foot-wide runway. He tried to correct his path back toward the runway centerline but struck a runway perimeter sign on the left edge of the runway with the left main landing gear. Thirty-five minutes before the accident, a quartering right headwind was reported at 6 knots and 25 minutes after the accident a quartering right headwind was reported at 7 knots.
Factual narrative
On November 10, 1998, at 1430 hours Pacific standard time, a Piper PA-28-161, N8258S, was substantially damaged when it veered off runway 15L and collided with a runway marker during landing at the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport, Santa Barbara, California. The student pilot was not injured. The aircraft was being operated by Skyward Aviation under 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the solo cross-country instructional flight.
The pilot reported that, while flaring for landing, he encountered a "strong" crosswind from the right and that he landed with the aircraft angled toward the left side of the 75-foot-wide runway. The pilot tried to correct his path back toward the runway centerline but struck a runway perimeter sign on the left edge of the runway with the left main landing gear.
At 1353, the Santa Barbara surface wind was reported from 200 degrees at 6 knots and at 1453 was reported from 220 degrees at 7 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8258S
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-161
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-8116024
- Airframe hours
- 5,700
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D3G, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Grant Stuart Cook
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 10, 1998 · 75 hours before
- Departed
- SMO · Santa Monica, CA
- Destination
- SBA
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- SBA · Santa Barbara Municipal, runway 15L, 4,179 × 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
- 35
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 43 total · 42 in this make and model · 5 as pilot in command · 34 in the last 90 days · 15 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SBA
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 N8258S · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.