LAX93LA187 · Piper PA-28-181
Royal Aviation Piper PA-28-181 · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during landing
From John Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX93LA187
- 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-28-181
- 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
- N83364
- Operator
- Royal Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From John Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA), Santa Ana, CATo not recorded
- 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
- Landing · flare/touchdown
- 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
- 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 › Directional control, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
WITNESSES TO THE ACCIDENT OBSERVED THE AIRCRAFT IMMEDIATELY VEER OFF THE LEFT SIDE OF THE RUNWAY AFTER TOUCHDOWN. THE RIGHT WING COLLIDED WITH A TAXIWAY SIGN AND THE AIRCRAFT VEERED BACK ONTO THE RUNWAY AND CAME TO REST ON THE RIGHT PAVEMENT EDGE. IN A VERBAL STATEMENT TO FAA INSPECTORS, THE PILOT SAID THAT THE AIRCRAFT BANKED TO THE LEFT IN THE LANDING FLARE AND TOUCHED DOWN WITH A HEADING ABOUT 45 DEGREES OFF THE RUNWAY CENTERLINE. THE AIRCRAFT WAS EXAMINED BY FAA AIRWORTHINESS INSPECTORS WHO REPORTED THAT THE LEFT FUEL TANK WAS COMPLETELY FULL AND THE RIGHT TANK WAS EMPTY. THE FUEL SELECTOR WAS POSITIONED TO THE RIGHT TANK. NO OTHER AIRCRAFT ABNORMALITIES WERE REPORTED. ACCORDING TO THE OFFICIAL WEATHER OBSERVATION AT THE AIRPORT, THE WINDS WERE CALM AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT. NO UNUSUAL METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS WERE NOTED BY THE TOWER OR REPORTED BY OTHER PILOTS. THE PILOT RECEIVED HIS PRIVATE CERTIFICATE 24 DAYS PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL OF THE AIRCRAFT DURING THE TOUCHDOWN. FACTORS IN THE ACCIDENT WERE THE PILOT'S LACK OF EXPERIENCE AND HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN A BALANCE BETWEEN THE WING FUEL TANKS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX93LA187
- Event ID
- 20001211X12177
- Case number
- LAX93LA187
- 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: 27a476fb8952f2c362d5ce11e8cf3d21cb58d85ebaa6a9563448814a83d75fc3; retrieved 2026-09-23T02:09:35.747Z.