LAX82DA092 · Piper J3F-65
Piper J3F-65 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) on approach
From Stellar Airpark (P19) to Stellar Airpark (P19)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX82DA092
- 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 J3F-65
- Aircraft type
- Piper J3
- 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
- N38857
- Operator
- Milton C Leshe · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Stellar Airpark (P19), Chandler, AZTo Stellar Airpark (P19), Chandler, AZ
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern downwind
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (mechanical 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
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, installation, improper
- Pilot in command › Level off, improper
- Propeller system/accessories › Separation
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
WHILE ON A DOWNWIND LEG OF THE TRAFFIC PATTERN, THE PILOT NOTICED A VERY LOUD GRINDING NOISE AS IF THE ENGINE WAS COMING APART. HE STATED THAT THE ENGINE RPM BECAME VERY HIGH. HE ATTEMPTED TO MANEUVER FOR A LANDING ON THE RUNWAY BUT ENTERED A HIGH SINK RATE. THE PILOT THEN REALIZED THAT HE WOULD BE UNABLE TO REACH THE RUNWAY AND ELECTED TO LAND BESIDE A ROAD. HE WAS UNABLE TO COMPLETELY STOP THE SINK RATE WHILE FLARING TO LAND. THE AIRCRAFT TOUCHED DOWN HARD, THE GEAR COLLAPSED, AND THE FUSELAGE FAILED. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE PROPELLER WAS FOUND IN THE VICINITY OF THE DOWNWIND LEG WHERE IT HAD SEPARATED FROM THE AIRCRAFT. THE PROPELLER HAD BEEN PREVIOUSLY REMOVED FROM THE AIRCRAFT WHILE IT WAS IN STORAGE TO PREVENT THE PLANE FROM BEING STOLEN. THE PILOT BELIEVED THAT THE PROPELLER WAS IMPROPERLY SECURED WHEN REINSTALLED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX82DA092
- Event ID
- 20020917X02184
- Case number
- LAX82DA092
- 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: 0821447dadccff8fb5dbabfed7184eaed15679ee641428917bfe88641484dacb; retrieved 2026-09-22T03:10:17.714Z.