LAX83FUJ13 · Piper PA-28R-180
Piper PA-28R-180 · Accident: loss of engine power during takeoff
From Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (FLG) to Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX83FUJ13
- 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-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
- N4579J
- Operator
- Robin D. Seaton · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (FLG), Flagstaff, AZTo Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ), ALBUEQUERQUE, NM
- 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
- 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 engine power
- 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
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT REPORTED HE HAD A PROBLEM WITH THE SPARK PLUGS LOADING UP BEFORE HE DEPARTED SACRAMENTO, CA ON A X-COUNTRY & THER MAGNETO (MAG) HAD BEEN OVERHAULED BEFORE HE DEPARTED. HE STATED THE ENG RAN WELL 'EXCEPT FOR BRIEF PLUG LOAD (ONE CYL)CLEARED BY LEANING MIXTURE.' EN ROUTE STOPS WERE MADE AT TEHACHAPI, CA & FLAGSTAFF, AZ FOR FUEL. THE PLT SAID THAT DURING TAKEOFF AT FLAGSTAFF, THE ENG LOST POWER AT APRX 100 FT AGL. HOWEVER, WITNESSES REPORTED THE ENG WAS MISSING ON THE TAKEOFF ROLL. ONE WITNESS, A CFI, STATED THAT FROM WHERE HE 1ST HEARD THE ENG, IT WAS MISSING STEADILY, BUT THE ACFTCONTINUED ON THE TAKEOFF & ROLLED APRX ANOTHER 1500 FT BEFORE THE PLT TOOK OFF WITH THE ENG STILL MISSING. AFTER TAKING OFF, THE ACFT SETTLED, HIT TREETOPS & CRASHED. THE R MAG WAS FOUND AT 3 DEG BEFORE-TOP-DEAD-CENTER (BTDC). HOWEVER, THERE WERE SCRAPE MARKS WHERE IT HAD ROTATED; THE RETAINING NUTS WERE SNUG, BUT NO TIGHT. ALSO, THE LEFT MAG WAS IN ITS PROPER POSITION TO FIRE AT 25 DEG BTDC. THE ARPT ELEVATION WAS 7012 FT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX83FUJ13
- Event ID
- 20001214X42718
- Case number
- LAX83FUJ13
- 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: d34e16ccbe94eea300500919779f4ee665d21bf90272d7a6eedd099a686cf927; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:58:27.093Z.