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LAX89LA052 · Piper PA-28R-201T PA-28R-201

19 Nov 1988 · Van Nuys, CA, United States

Piper PA-28R-201T PA-28R-201 · Accident: vortex turbulence encountered on approach

From Oxnard Airport (OXR) to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
LAX89LA052
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-201T PA-28R-201

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
N4306M
Operator
Panzarino, Anthony V · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Oxnard Airport (OXR), Oxnard, 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
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
Vortex turbulence encountered
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
  • Pilot in command › Distance, misjudged

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT LOST CONTROL OF THE AIRCRAFT WHILE DESCENDING FOR LANDING AND COLLIDED WITH A POLE. THE PILOT STATED THAT HE WAS CLEARED TO LAND BEHIND A KING AIR, ON RUNWAY 16R. THE PILOT STATED THAT ABOUT THE TIME HE DESCENDED TO 50 FEET AGL, NEAR THE THRESHOLD, HE ENTERED AN UNCONTROLLED RIGHT BANK, WHICH TURNED HIM 90 DEGREES TO THE LANDING RUNWAY AND HE STRUCK A POLE. THE ACFT THEN COLLIDED WITH THE GROUND OFF THE RUNWAY AND SLID INTO A CHAIN LINK FENCE. IT IS UNKNOWN WHERE THE KING AIR TOUCHED DOWN, BUT THE PILOT STATED THAT THE KING AIR'S APPROACH LOOKED STEEP (GREATER THAN A 3 DEGREE GLIDE SLOPE). THE PILOT STATED THAT HE MADE A NORMAL APPROACH AND TRIED TO TOUCH DOWN ON THE THRESHOLD. A WITNESS REPORTED THAT THE PIPER WAS ONLY A FEW SECONDS BEHIND THE LANDING KING AIR. THERE WERE NO REPORTED MECHANICAL FAILURES OR MALFUNCTIONS OF THE AIRPLANE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX89LA052
Event ID
20001213X27285
Case number
LAX89LA052
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: 3f2642bfd9f566435a368dbed72d7b7b526c9bd902dff9c36c005e7e590b2308; retrieved 2026-09-22T00:20:23.479Z.