LAX92LA150 · Piper PA-32-300
Piper PA-32-300 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure on approach
From Fallon Municipal Airport (FLX) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX92LA150
- 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-32-300
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-32
- 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
- N4075R
- Operator
- Galen M. Reimer · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Fallon Municipal Airport (FLX), Fallon, NVTo 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
- Approach · VFR go-around
- 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
- Airframe, component or system failure
- 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
- Flt control syst, yoke/control stick › Failure, total
- Flt control syst, yoke/control stick › Separation
- Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not possible
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT SAID THAT ON SHORT FINAL TO THE AIRSTRIP HE ENCOUNTERED A WINDSHEAR AND DOWNDRAFT. HE ADDED POWER TO GO AROUND AND THE PLASTIC CONTROL WHEEL ON THE LEFT SIDE BROKE INTO TWO SECTIONS AT THE MIDDLE. THE AIRCRAFT HIT THE GROUND HARD AND VEERED OFF THE RUNWAY. THE PILOT STATED THAT AFTER HIS CONTROL WHEEL BROKE, HE ATTEMPTED TO CONTROL THE AIRCRAFT BY GRABBING THE WHEEL ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE COCKPIT; HOWEVER, THE AIRCRAFT HIT THE GROUND AND HE LOST DIRECTIONAL CONTROL. THE PLASTIC CONTROL WHEELS IN THIS AIRCRAFT ARE THE SUBJECT OF A REOCCURRING AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVE (69-22-2), WHICH REQUIRES REPETITIVE DYE PENETRANT INSPECTIONS AT EACH ANNAUL INSPECTION FOR CRACKS IN THE CENTER OF THE WHEEL. THE MAINTENANCE RECORDS DISCLOSED THAT THE CONTROL WHEEL WAS INSPECTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE AD AT THE LAST ANNUAL. MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION OF THE FRACTURE FACE REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF DYE PENETRANT, INDICATING THAT THE CRACK DID NOT EXIST AT THE LAST INSPECTION.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S LOSS OF CONTROL DUE TO THE FAILURE OF HIS CONTROL WHEEL DURING AN ATTEMPTED GO AROUND.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX92LA150
- Event ID
- 20001211X14324
- Case number
- LAX92LA150
- 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 1992-03-16.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 3de93ca7d4ff290cf3829842dd295e05b5d16be41f62748e5fd37ac1bca1bc51; retrieved 2026-09-23T03:18:31.456Z.