LAX87LA204 · Piper PA-38-112
Piper PA-38-112 · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during takeoff
From Polacca Airport (P10) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX87LA204
- 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-38-112
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-38
- 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
- N2315V
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Polacca Airport (P10), Chandler, AZTo 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
- Takeoff · roll/run
- 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 on ground/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
- Dual student › Aircraft handling, improper
- Dual student › Directional control, not maintained
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Remedial action, delayed
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Remedial action, poor
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Supervision, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING AN INSTRUCTIONAL FLT, THE STUDENT PLT HAD CONTROL OF THE ACFT DURING A SOFT FIELD TAKE-OFF. THE STUDENT DID NOT KEEP THE ACFT ALIGNED WITH THE CENTERLINE EVEN AFTER THE INSTRUCTOR TOLD THE STUDENT TO ADD RIGHT RUDDER TO STOP THE DRIFT. JUST PRIOR TO LIFT-OFF THE INSTRUCTOR HAD TO ADD RIGHT RUDDER, AND WHEN THE ACFT VEERED SHARPLY TO THE RIGHT, THE INSTRUCTOR TOOK OVER. THE INSTRUCTOR WAS UNABLE TO KEEP THE ACFT ON THE RWY. THE ACFT WAS JUST AIRBORNE AT THIS TIME THEN TOUCHED DOWN ON THE LEFT MAIN APRX 6 FT FROM THE EDGE OF THE RWY. THE ACFT TRAVELED APRX 80 FT AIRBORNE WHEN THE RIGHT MAIN GEAR STRUCK A TAXIWAY SIGN AND SHEARED THE GEAR OFF. THE INSTRUCTOR THEN LANDED THE ACFT ON THE RWY. THE TAXI SIGN WAS APPROX 8 FEET FROM THE EDGE OF THE RWY. FAA AC 150/5340-18B STATES THAT INFORMATION SIGNS ARE TO BE LOCATED 10 FT FROM THE EDGE OF THE RWY.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX87LA204
- Event ID
- 20001213X30965
- Case number
- LAX87LA204
- 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: 68c74ee1c2ef05f05371a1e5c2a689f7cb7dc7f35a519df0c3a0009f57e53d1b; retrieved 2026-09-23T13:11:06.288Z.