LAX06LA182 · Piper PA-28-140

The airplane settled down onto rocky upsloping terrain after a climb rate was not achieved in the takeoff initial climb. The flight instructor said he and the 3-hour primary student had been doing pattern work, and completed one flight around the pattern prior to the accident. On the accident takeoff, they had been doing a high-speed taxi on the 8,000-foot runway. He reported that he was on the controls (throttle and ailerons), and the student was on the rudders. The instructor was adding and reducing power to get the student used to maintaining directional control of the airplane and countering the left turning tendency encountered with power application. As he added power to takeoff, he noted 2,300 revolutions per minute (rpm). After liftoff, he said that the airplane was not climbing, and the engine sounded normal and was not stuttering or missing. The instructor indicated there was rising terrain ahead and houses in the area, so he decided a forced landing into rising terrain was the best option. There were also power lines located in front of them. He knew that he would have to give up the airspeed in order to get over the power lines. He said that he "lowered the nose to get best angle of climb airspeed" and noted only a 50 fpm climb. After clearing the power lines he made the forced landing. A sheriff's deputy who responded to the site reported that the accident location was 3 miles west of the airport. He noted landing gear skid marks in the rocky terrain. The airplane struck a small tree and came to rest upright facing towards the west. The deputy further noted that the landing gear wheels had separated from the airplane. The deputy interviewed the student pilot, who stated that after takeoff they were "not able to gain their normal airspeed."

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset