FTW83FA039 · Piper PA-28-140
Piper PA-28-140 · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From Hennessey, OK to Hennessey, OK
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW83FA039
- 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
- 3 · 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-28-140
- 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
- N9816W
- Operator
- Al D. Racer · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Hennessey, OKTo Hennessey, OK
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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 › Aircraft handling, uncontrolled
- Pilot in command › Incapacitation
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT WAS GIVING TAXI RIDES TO HIS GRANDCHILDREN AT A PRIVATE FARM STRIP. ACCOMPANIED BY TWO TEENAGE GRANDDAUGHTERS, THE PLT WAS OBSERVED IN THE RIGHT FRONT SEAT HOLDING THE ENTRY DOOR OPEN WHILE TAXIING THE ACFT UP & DOWN THE STRIP. A WITNESS HEARD THE THROTTLE ADVANCE AT APPROXIMATELY MID FIELD & SAW THE ACFT BECOME AIRBORNE NEAR THE END OF THE STRIP. THE ACFT CLIMBED IN A VERY HIGH NOSE UP ATTITUDE & THEN SLID BACKWARDS IN THE AIR, DISAPPEARING FROM VIEW IN A TAIL DOWN FALL. THE TRIM WAS FOUND IN THE FULL NOSE UP POSITION. NONE OF THE OCCUPANTS WERE WEARING SEATBELTS. NEITHER OF THE PASSENGERS HAD ANY AERONAUTICAL KNOWLEDGE. THE PLT HAD A MEDICAL HISTORY OF TREATMENT FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE. A REVIEW OF HIS LOG BOOK INDICATED THAT HE DISCONTINUED FLYING WHILE TAKING MEDICATION. HE HAD JUST STARTED FLYING AGAIN AFTER DISCONTINUING HIS MEDICATION. THE PLT'S SON STATED THAT THE PLT HAD NOT INTENDED TO TAKE OFF & FELT STRONGLY THAT THE PLT BECAME INCAPACITATED WHILE TAXIING & BECAME AIRBORNE INADVERTANTLY.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW83FA039
- Event ID
- 20020917X04641
- Case number
- FTW83FA039
- 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: 5688ee41e074ed6e8820b461ba11c6b0f89d4ce72fe11592f99502c28605dc1a; retrieved 2026-09-21T07:29:19.583Z.