FTW02LA252 · Piper PA-28-140
Hughes Aviation Piper PA-28-140 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure while maneuvering
From Bentonville Municipal-Louise M Thaden Field (VBT) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW02LA252
- 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
- Unknown
- 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-28-140
- 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
- N686FL
- Operator
- Hughes Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Bentonville Municipal-Louise M Thaden Field (VBT), Bentonville, ARTo 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Throttle/power lever, cable › Binding(mechanical)
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The CFI demonstrated a power-off stall to the student, and when he applied full power during the recovery, the throttle stuck between 1800-1900 rpm. The CFI verified that the friction lock was unlocked and attempted to push the throttle forward with both hands; however, the throttle would not advance forward. The pilot elected not to move the throttle back toward idle. The airplane was unable to maintain altitude, and a forced landing was initiated to a golf course. The CFI stated that he moved the throttle to idle on short final, and the throttle moved aft smoothly. The airplane touched down and during the landing roll the left landing gear contacted a sand trap, the airplane pivoted 90 degrees, and came to rest upright. Post-accident examination of the airplane revealed that the throttle cable's retaining bolt, nut, washer, and cotter pin were in place on the throttle lever arm of the carburetor, and the cable was secure in the mounting brace attached to the engine. The throttle cable was bent (approximately 75 degrees) into the engine truss, as a result of the impact. The throttle cable was moved from the full forward position (the position it was in when personnel arrived at the site) to the idle position; however, it was not possible to move the throttle. The airplane was moved from the accident site and second examination took place. During this examination it was determined that the cable installation at the throttle quadrant and carburetor were found to be proper. The throttle control was moved and the cable was observed to move, up to the point of the 75-degree bend. The cable was straightened and normal travel of the throttle cable was attained, although some binding was noted near the idle position. The throttle cable was then disassembled at the throttle control attach point, and the cable was removed. The inner cable was then removed from its outer sheathing. The inner cable winding was "somewhat bulged or unwound" at the upper end just forward of the throttle lever attach point. The cable sheath displayed a "shined spot" at a location corresponding to the unwound area. No other anomalies were noted. The reason for the binding was not determined.
Probable cause
The binding throttle control cable, which resulted in a forced landing. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW02LA252
- Event ID
- 20020910X01571
- Case number
- FTW02LA252
- 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, coordinates. 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: d3fec0d44374148ac3f665bd8d94cffb97d36679163974cfb68f0950a6a04a42; retrieved 2026-09-21T19:37:21.871Z.