WPR25LA275 · Piper PA-28-180
Piper PA-28-180 · Accident: collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT) on approach
From San Martin Airport (E16) to Palo Alto Airport (PAO)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR25LA275
- 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
- Event fatalities
- Unknown
- 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-28-180
- 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
- N7756N
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From San Martin Airport (E16), San Martin, CATo Palo Alto Airport (PAO), Palo Alto, CA
- Aircraft age
- About 57 years (built 1968)
- 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
- Approach · VFR go-around
- Defining eventThe 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
- Collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT)
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that while on final approach to the runway, the airplane was high and fast, and he performed a slip to “get more on speed.” During the landing flare, the airplane floated significantly down the runway, and the pilot initiated a to go-around by applying full power. During the go-around, the airplanes wheels touched down about 2/3rds down the grass runway and the pilot increased back pressure, and the airplane became airborne, when he noticed that the airspeed indicated about 45 knots, and that the stall warning system light was mostly on with some intermittent flashes. The pilot stated that he thought they did not have the airspeed to fly out of ground effect and decided to abort the go around by reducing the engine power to idle after the airplane had cleared an obstacle. Subsequently, the airplane landed hard, bounced, and flew another few hundred feet before it impacted a dirt mound and nosed over. The pilot added that throughout the entire accident sequence, he had 40° flaps selected. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings and the vertical stabilizer. At the time of the accident, the pilot was landing the airplane on runway 05 with wind from 250° at 11 knots. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause
The pilot’s delayed go-around from an unstabilized approach that resulted in an impact with terrain.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR25LA275
- Event ID
- 20250911200981
- Case number
- WPR25LA275
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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, coordinates, cause areas. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2025-09-11.
- API snapshot SHA-256: dbee956deae0eb2263ad1109ae0bb6cd820dda273e1318b766079a7143b2582c; retrieved 2026-09-16T20:19:43.858Z.