LAX95LA006 · Piper PA-24-250
Piper PA-24-250 · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during takeoff
From O26 to Chino Airport (CNO)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX95LA006
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Piper PA-24-250
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-24
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N6976P
- Operator
- William C. Rowles · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From O26To Chino Airport (CNO), Chino, CA
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Takeoff · roll/run
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control on ground/water
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Stall/mush
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Aborted takeoff, not performed
- Pilot in command › Lift-off, premature
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT SAID HE BEGAN TO EXPERIENCE DIRECTIONAL CONTROL PROBLEMS DURING THE GROUND ROLL. THE AIRPLANE DID NOT SEEM TO RESPOND TO RIGHT RUDDER INPUTS, AND HE LIFTED OFF EARLY TO AVOID DEPARTING THE LEFT SIDE OF THE PAVEMENT. THE AIRCRAFT DID NOT HAVE ADEQUATE AIRSPEED AND SETTLED BACK TO THE GROUND IN A LEFT DRIFT. THE RIGHT MAIN LANDING GEAR COLLAPSED AND THE AIRCRAFT SPUN AROUND TO A STOP. THE MANAGER AT THE AIRPORT EXAMINED THE AIRCRAFT AND REPORTED THAT THE NOSE GEAR APPEARED TO BE INTACT. THE RIGHT LINKAGE WHICH CONNECTS THE NOSE GEAR STEERING COLLAR TO THE RUDDER PEDALS WAS BROKEN, WITH A PIECE MISSING. HE ALSO REPORTED THAT HE INSPECTED THE TAXIWAY AND RUNWAY, BUT DID NOT FIND THE MISSING PIECE. IN HIS REPORT, THE PILOT NOTED THAT THE MISSING PIECE WAS FOUND 50 FT WEST OF THE CRASH SITE. HE STATED THAT THE FRACTURE FACE EXHIBITED A RUST-COLORED APPEARANCE OVER ABOUT 1/2 OF THE FRACTURE, WITH THE REMAINDER SHINY IN APPEARANCE. THE PART WAS NOT PROVIDED TO NTSB FOR EXAMINATION AS REQUESTED.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO ABORT THE TAKEOFF, RESULTING IN A PREMATURE LIFT-OFF. A FACTOR IN THE ACCIDENT WAS THE FAILURE OF THE STEERING LINKAGE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX95LA006
- Event ID
- 20001206X02466
- Case number
- LAX95LA006
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: d504a5b4e397b2ee0fedb68f25e4889d03885cfdaf418e6b7830d238d59c95b5; retrieved 2026-09-21T13:35:12.389Z.