LAX87LA184 · Piper PA-24-250
Piper PA-24-250 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during initial climb
From Catalina Airport (AVX) to Zamperini Field (TOA)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX87LA184
- 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-24-250
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-24
- 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
- N5596P
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Catalina Airport (AVX), CATALINA, CATo Zamperini Field (TOA), Torrance, CA
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Propeller system/accessories, blade › Previous damage
- Propeller system/accessories, blade › Separation
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
JUST AFTER TAKEOFF, THE PLT STATED THAT HE HEARD A LOUD BANG. THE ACFT BEGAN TO VIBRATE SEVERELY WITH THE ENGINE DEVELOPING PARTIAL POWER. THE ACFT WOULD NOT CLIMB AND THE PLT WAS ABLE TO MAINTAIN 100 FPM DESCENT. UNABLE TO RETURN TO THE ARPT, THE PLT DITCHED THE ACFT IN THE OCEAN. INSPECTION OF THE PROPELLER BLADES EXHIBITED LEADING EDGE DAMAGE ALONG THE OUTBOARD 4-5 INCHES WITH SOME POLISHING OF THE CAMBERED SIDE. ONE BLADE WAS BENT FORWARD AND MISSING APRX 4 INCHES OF THE TIP. APRX ONE INCH FURTHER WAS A GOUGE ON THE LEADING EDGE. THE OTHER BLADE WAS BENT REARWARD. ON THE LEADING EDGE APRX 4 INCHES FROM THE TIP WAS A GOUGE AND CRACK APRX ONE INCH LONG. THE ENGINE CONTAINED A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF RUST AND CORROSION FROM BEING IN CONTACT WITH SALT WATER. NO OTHER MECHANICAL FAILURE OR MALFUNCTIONS COULD BE NOTED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX87LA184
- Event ID
- 20001213X30722
- Case number
- LAX87LA184
- 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 1987-04-20.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 4ce1f7d54d46bf02c045162b78369e8ba0f1d55f0d1b035127da4a519a80789c; retrieved 2026-09-22T00:55:17.281Z.