DFW06FA095 · Piper/Stevens PA18A-150
Piper/Stevens PA18A-150 · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From LWD · Longwood Flying, MS to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- DFW06FA095
- 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/Stevens PA18A-150
- Aircraft type
- Piper/stevens PA18
- 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
- N3887P
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From LWD · Longwood Flying, MSTo 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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/spin
- 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 control, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Stall/spin, inadvertent
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The 228-hours private pilot lost control of the tailwheel-equipped airplane while maneuvering at low altitude. The airplane impacted terrain on a heading of 045 degrees in a near vertical nose down attitude. There was no post-impact fire. There were no eye witnesses to the mishap. The airplane was found by a family member when the pilot was late returning from his personal flight. Examination of the airplane did not revealed any anomalies. Flight control continuity was established to all flight controls. No discrepancies were noted with the engine that could have prevented normal engine operation. Toxicological tests were completed for carbon monoxide, cyanide, volatiles, and tested drugs. Test results were negative for carbon monoxide, cyanide, and volatiles but revealed significant amounts of Tetrahydrocannabinol (marihuana) and Tetrahydrocannabinol Carboxlic Acid (marihuana) detected in the blood and lungs. Also noted was a presence in the blood and liver of Benzoylecgonine, Ecgonine Methylester, and Anhydroecgonine Methylester which are chemicals found in the body and normally associated with use of cocaine.
Probable cause
The pilots failure to maintain control of the airplane. A contributing factor was the pilots impairment.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DFW06FA095
- Event ID
- 20060410X00414
- Case number
- DFW06FA095
- 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: 9312122226235742f7b99b686044ec5e3f8dde16bcb92618afb7998643ec7491; retrieved 2026-09-20T17:26:17.160Z.