LAX95LA286 · Piper PA-23-250
Piper PA-23-250 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ) to Mogollon Airpark (AZ82)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX95LA286
- 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-23-250
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-23
- 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
- N14361
- Operator
- Theodora M. Spence · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ), Albuquerque, NMTo Mogollon Airpark (AZ82)
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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
- Partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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 › Airspeed(vref), inadequate
- Pilot in command › Directional control, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Mixture, improper use of
- Pilot in command › Proper glidepath, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE WINDS ON THE SURFACE WERE LIGHT AND VARIABLE, AND THE COMPUTED DENSITY ALTITUDE WAS 10,000 FEET. IN A VERBAL REPORT TO FAA INSPECTORS, THE PILOT SAID THE AIRCRAFT BEGAN SINKING RAPIDLY ON FINAL AND SHE APPLIED POWER; HOWEVER, THE LEFT ENGINE DID NOT RESPOND AND THE AIRCRAFT ROLLED SHARPLY LEFT. THE PILOT REDUCED POWER TO REGAIN CONTROL AND THE AIRCRAFT THEN CONTACTED THE TOPS OF TREES 1,500 FEET FROM, AND LEVEL WITH, THE APPROACH END OF THE RUNWAY. THE PILOT MANAGED TO CLIMB SLIGHTLY, BUT THOUGHT THE AIRCRAFT WAS GOING TO HIT THE RUNWAY HARD AND ADDED POWER AGAIN. THE AIRCRAFT ROLLED TO THE LEFT, VEERED OFF THE RUNWAY, AND COLLIDED WITH MORE TREES. THE PILOT STATED THAT FULL RICH MIXTURE SETTINGS WERE USED DURING THE APPROACH. THE FAA LOOKED AT THE SPARK PLUGS AND THEY WERE HEAVILY SOOTED. IN HER WRITTEN STATEMENT, THE PILOT REPORTED THAT AS THE AIRCRAFT CLEARED A GROUP OF TALL PINE TREES WHICH SURROUND THE RUNWAY THE AIRCRAFT ENCOUNTERED A SUDDEN DOWNDRAFT. AN FAA AIRWORTHINESS INSPECTOR FOUND NO MECHANICAL DISCREPANCIES WITH THE ENGINES.
Probable cause
the pilot's improper use of the mixture controls, failure to maintain a proper glidepath, failure to maintain an adequate approach airspeed, and failure to maintain directional control of the aircraft.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX95LA286
- Event ID
- 20001207X04284
- Case number
- LAX95LA286
- 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: 38cf4703091c9de45af3ada643d9bc25e3e1378e8b35eb8a45d6935a0a92ac0d; retrieved 2026-09-21T22:07:06.953Z.