CHI06LA081 · Piper PA-28-161
Piper PA-28-161 · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb
From O6C · Schaumburg, IL to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI06LA081
- 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-28-161
- 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
- N4328D
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From O6C · Schaumburg, ILTo 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
- 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 engine power
- 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
- Pole
- 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
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The airplane sustained substantial damage during a forced landing to a freeway after a loss of engine power during initial climb. The certificated flight instructor (CFI) reported that he and the student pilot checked the fuel quantity during the preflight and one tank was full and the other had over 1/2 tank. He reported that the fuel selector was positioned to the fullest tank for takeoff. The carburetor heat, magnetos, and the fuel boost pump were checked during run-up. The CFI reported that the student pilot performed the takeoff, and that the takeoff roll and the rotation felt normal. During initial climb, the airspeed was low and the airplane was not climbing well. The CFI reported that the tachometer was indicating 2,300 rpm when it should have been 2,700 rpm. The CFI instructed the student pilot to continue to climb straight ahead. The CFI pulled the carburetor heat to ON. He reported that the rpm dropped to 1,100 to 1,200, and that the engine was running extremely rough. The airplane was about 300-400 feet above ground level (agl) and the student pilot lowered the nose to keep the airspeed up. The CFI turned the carburetor heat to OFF and the rpm went back to 2,300 rpm, but then the engine quit. The CFI reported that he took control of the airplane. The engine momentarily started again, but then quit. The CFI prepared to make a forced landing on a nearby freeway, and he instructed the student pilot to switch fuel tanks, but it had no effect. The CFI reported that the right wing struck two light poles during landing, impacted the freeway, and skidded to a stop. The inspection of the engine revealed no preexisting anomalies. Fuel was found in both wing fuel tanks. A fuel receipt indicated that the airplane had been fueled with 15.0 gallons of fuel on the morning of the accident.
Probable cause
The loss of engine power for an undetermined reason during takeoff-initial climb.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI06LA081
- Event ID
- 20060228X00249
- Case number
- CHI06LA081
- 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: 3c85852661bdeeb251ae41af1d7d44522fa4732c1e1fef357aed4664434f0158; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:49:33.481Z.