LAX83LA389 · Piper PA25-235
Piper PA25-235 · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From P49 · Somerton, AZ to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX83LA389
- 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 PA25-235
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA25
- 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
- N7104Z
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From P49 · Somerton, 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 137: Agricultural
- 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
- Maneuvering · turn to reverse direction
- 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
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Stall
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Abort, delayed
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, poor
- Pilot in command › Stall, uncontrolled
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Weather evaluation, inaccurate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH THE GROUND DURING A TURN IN TURBULENT AIR TO ABORT AN AERIAL APPLICATION MISSION BECAUSE OF WEATHER. THE PILOT STATED THAT HE HAD MADE TWO PASSES AT THE FIELD HE WAS SPRAYING WHEN HE NOTICED THE FLAGMAN AND FARMERS WAVING HIM OFF DUE TO AN APPROACHING THUNDERSTORM. AFTER DECIDING HE WAS SUPPOSED TO LEAVE THE PILOT STATED THATHE MADE A STANDARD RIGHT TURN TO THE NORTH AND ENCOUNTERED A WIND SHEAR. THE RIGHT WING WAS FORCED DOWN ALMOST INVERTED BEFORE CONTACT WITH THE GROUND. ACCORDING TO THE WITNESSES AFTER CIRCLING TO CONFIRM THE SIGNAL TO LEAVE THE ACFT BEGAN A RIGHT TURN, LOST ALT RAPIDLY AND CONTACTED THE GROUND RIGHT WING FIRST. THE YUMA, AZ WEATHER REPORT AT 1055 HOURS LISTS IN THE REMARKS SECTION CUMULONIMBUS CLOUDS MOVING SOUTHEAST TO NORTHWEST THROUGH THE NORTHWEST QUADRANT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX83LA389
- Event ID
- 20001214X44216
- Case number
- LAX83LA389
- 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: 9b470742c6ad0c1a0211e20fa71d346d205a28bcb953d0932aabdd59438d156f; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:50:05.766Z.