SEA90LA101 · Piper PA-28-180
Piper PA-28-180 · Accident: loss of control in flight during takeoff
From Stark's Twin Oaks Airpark (7S3) to Stark's Twin Oaks Airpark (7S3)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA90LA101
- 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-28-180
- 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
- N9765J
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Stark's Twin Oaks Airpark (7S3)To Stark's Twin Oaks Airpark (7S3), 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
- Takeoff · rejected takeoff
- 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 in flight
- 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, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Directional control, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Remedial action, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING THE TAKEOFF ROLL WITH 15 DEGREES OF FLAPS, THE AIRPLANE HAD ACCELERATED TO 60 MPH WHEN THE PILOT EXTENDED THE FLAPS TO 25 DEGREES FOR THE SHORT FIELD TAKEOFF. THE AIRPLANE BECAME AIRBORNE AND THE PILOT LOWERED THE NOSE AND NOTED HE WAS 5 DEGREES OFF THE CENTERLINE TO THE LEFT. THE PILOT OVER CORRECTED TO 5 DEGREES TO THE RIGHT OF CENTER LINE AND WAS HEADING DIRECTLY TOWARDS TREES. AT THIS POINT, THE AIRPLANE WAS APPROACHING A STALL. THE PILOT OPTED TO ABORT THE TAKE OFF AND REDUCED POWER. THE AIRPLANE WAS STILL HEADING FOR TREES AND THE PILOT TRIED TO MANEUVER AROUND THEM; HOWEVER, THE AIRPLANE TRAVELED OFF THE AIRSTRIP THROUGH A BARBED WIRE FENCE AND ONTO A PUBLIC ROAD THAT PARALLELED THE RUNWAY. THE AIRPLANE SLID DOWN THE ROAD AND CAME TO REST TOWARDS THE END OF THE RUNWAY.
Probable cause
PILOT DID NOT MAINTAIN AN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED AFTER TAKEOFF WHICH RESULTED IN A LOSS OF CONTROL AND ABORTED TAKEOFF. THE PILOT DID NOT MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE AND DID NOT PROPERLY CORRECT THE SITUATION BEFORE COLLIDING WITH TREES AND A FENCE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA90LA101
- Event ID
- 20001212X23547
- Case number
- SEA90LA101
- 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 1990-06-15.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 978032759c9b04558067f97e24dcf451fcdebbcc968b6be8b5085dea47f05722; retrieved 2026-09-23T05:56:01.556Z.