LAX92LA398 · Piper PA-28R-200
Air Desert Pacific Piper PA-28R-200 · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water while maneuvering
From Brackett Field (POC) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX92LA398
- 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-28R-200
- 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
- N33SM
- Operator
- Air Desert Pacific
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Brackett Field (POC), La Verne, 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
- Maneuvering
- 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 terrain/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 › Altitude, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Low pass, intentional
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DAMAGE TO THE AIRCRAFT FIREWALL, PROPELLER AND OTHER EXTERNAL STRUCTURES WAS REPORTED BY THE CATALINA AIRPORT ASST MANAGER SUBSEQUENT TO THE AIRCRAFT LANDING AT THE ISLAND. THE PILOT TOLD THE AIRPORT MANAGER THAT WHILE ENROUTE BETWEEN THE MAINLAND AND THE ISLAND HIS ENGINE QUIT, AND, JUST BEFORE IMPACT WITH THE OCEAN, HE WAS ABLE TO GET THE ENGINE RESTARTED. THE PILOT REPORTEDLY SAID THAT THE NOSE GEAR HIT THE WATER DURING THE EVENT. THE PILOT, AN ITALIAN NATIONAL, DID NOT REPORT THE ACCIDENT TO THE FAA, THE SAFETY BOARD OR THE FBO WHERE THE AIRCRAFT WAS RENTED AND IMMEDIATELY RETURNED TO ITALY. AFTER THE AIRPLANE LANDED, AIRPORT EMPLOYEES OBSERVED THE PILOT POUR A HANDFUL OF DIRT INTO THE OIL FILLER TUBE. AN FAA AIRWORTHINESS INSPECTOR EXAMINED THE AIRCRAFT. HE REPORTED THAT THE TIPS OF BOTH PROPELLER BLADES WERE BENT SYMMETRICALLY BACK AT 45 DEGREE ANGLES WITHOUT LEADING EDGE DAMAGE OR CORDWISE SCRATCHES. THE BOTTOM PART OF THE FIREWALL WAS BENT AFT AND UPWARD CRUSH DAMAGE WAS OBSERVED ON THE BOTTOM OF THE ENGINE COWL. THE ENTRY STEP WAS RIPPED FROM THE AIRCRAFT AND THE LOWER ROTATING BEACON WAS FOUND PUSHED UP THROUGH THE FUSELAGE SKIN PANEL. OTHER EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL WATER DAMAGE WAS ALSO NOTED.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S INTENTIONAL FLIGHT AT AN ALTITUDE WHICH PROVIDED INSUFFICIENT CLEARANCE FROM THE WATER.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX92LA398
- Event ID
- 20001211X15731
- Case number
- LAX92LA398
- 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: 2d5f3dc363260c4ed9e1261a104118768128849696904fe2494e6efe8ec234a2; retrieved 2026-09-23T02:38:06.931Z.