FTW82FRD13 · Piper PA-28-161
Piper PA-28-161 · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From Lake Charles, LA to Lake Charles, LA
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW82FRD13
- 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
- 2 · 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-28-161
- 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
- N83006
- Operator
- Belton T. & Calaudia Mix
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Lake Charles, LATo Lake Charles, LA
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- 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/mush; Tree(s)
- 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 › Aborted takeoff, not performed
- Pilot in command › Lowering of flaps, improper
- Pilot in command › Overconfidence in personal ability
- Pilot in command › Performance data, not understood
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
- Pilot in command › Raising of flaps, not corrected
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Lake Charles, LA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT TOLD THE SURVIVING PAX HE WAS GOING TO MAKE A SHORT FLD TAKEOFF WITH FULL (40 DEG) FLAPS. THE PAX, WHO IS ALSO A PLT, DISAGREED WITH THE PLT. THE PLT SAID IT WOULD BE OKAY & PROCEEDED TO TAKE OFF. DURING THE TAKEOFF ROLL THE PAX SUGGESTED HE CHANGE THE FLAP SETTING TO 10 DEG. THE PLT DID NOT CHANGE THE FLAP SETTING. 3/4 OF THE WAY DOWN THE RWY THE PAX SUGGESTED THEY ABORT THE TAKEOFF. THE PLT DISAGREED & PULLED THE NOSE UP. THE ACFT FELT MUSHY & THE NOSE HIGH ATTITUDE OBSCURED THE VIEW OF THE UPCOMING TREES. THE ACFT STRUCK A TREE LIMB & CARTWHEELED. WITNESSES REVEALED THE ACFT STARTED ITS TAKEOFF RUN WITH ABOUT 3,000 FT OF USABLE RWY. THE ACFT SETTLED BACK TO THE RWY AFTER BECOMING AIRBORNEABOUT 500-800 FT DOWN THE RWY. JUST PRIOR TO REACHING THE END OF THE RWY THE ACFT HAD GAINED ABOUT 6-8 FT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW82FRD13
- Event ID
- 20020917X03490
- Case number
- FTW82FRD13
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1982-06-06.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 1bd6b8d400ce7b4f0a96bc98ab0f4d149558ccf83d6a38fcc4c0a154f1069b0b; retrieved 2026-09-21T08:16:57.330Z.