SEA95LA151 · Piper PA-28-160
Piper PA-28-160 · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From an unrecorded airport to Portland Troutdale Airport (TTD)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA95LA151
- 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-28-160
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- 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
- N5040W
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Portland Troutdale Airport (TTD), Portland, OR
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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 › Clearance, not maintained
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Kent, WA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT STATED THAT HE ESTIMATED THE PASSENGERS WEIGHT, BAGGAGE, AND FUEL QUANTITY AND REPORTED THAT THE AIRPLANE WAS LOADED ONE POUND UNDER MAX GROSS WEIGHT AND WITHIN THE C.G. ENVELOPE FOR TAKEOFF. THE PILOT STATED THAT DURING THE TAKEOFF GROUND ROLL, HE HELD THE AIRPLANE ON THE RUNWAY TO GAIN ADDITIONAL GROUND SPEED BEFORE ROTATION. AFTER ROTATION, THE PILOT HELD THE AIRPLANE IN GROUND EFFECT TO INCREASE THE AIRSPEED BEFORE PULLING UP TO GAIN ALTITUDE. THE PILOT STATED THAT THE AIRPLANE FELT 'SLUGGISH' AND THE STALL WARNING LIGHT ILLUMINATED EACH TIME THE ANGLE OF ATTACK WAS INCREASED. BECAUSE OF THE DARK NIGHT CONDITIONS, THE PILOT WAS NOT SURE IF THE AIRPLANE WOULD CLEAR THE TERRAIN AND OBSTRUCTIONS OFF THE DEPARTURE END THE RUNWAY. AFTER THE LANDING GEAR COLLIDED WITH TREE TOPS, THE PILOT REDUCED ENGINE POWER AND LANDED THE AIRPLANE IN SMALL TREES AND HIGH BRUSH. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT THERE WERE NO MECHANICAL FAILURES OR MALFUNCTIONS WITH THE AIRPLANE AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN CLEAR OF THE TREES. THE DARK NIGHT LIGHT CONDITION WAS A FACTOR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA95LA151
- Event ID
- 20001207X04095
- Case number
- SEA95LA151
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1995-07-15.
- API snapshot SHA-256: ce29e4854faf07957a65fa85eb51881ee20a68a003823b142c98b2ec31e58455; retrieved 2026-09-22T23:36:49.372Z.