Piper PA-28-180 N5413S

Summary

On 4 June 2001 at about 15:55 local time, a Piper PA-28-180 registered N5413S was involved in an accident near Big Bear City, California, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

4 June 2001 at 15:55

Classification

Accident

Location

Big Bear City, California, United States

Nearest airport

Big Bear City (L35)

Coordinates

34.2597, -116.8736

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-180

Registration

N5413S

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Big Bear City → Big Bear City

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX01FA199

1 person died.

the student pilot's selection of a takeoff runway conducive to a tailwind weather condition and his failure to maintain airspeed and his inadvertent stall during takeoff initial climb. Factors in the accident were the partial loss engine power resulting from the inoperative right magneto and the high density altitude weather condition.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The student pilot lost control of the single engine airplane during the takeoff initial climb with a tailwind and collided with trees while descending in the crosswind turn. The student departed with an 8-knot tailwind. The UNICOM frequency was reported to be in operation; however, no one reported hearing the accident airplane request departure information or make a position report. According to a pilot witness, the airplane was unable to gain altitude after leaving ground effect and the nose pitched up and to the left, and began to "oscillate back and forth as if it was having difficulty in trying to climb." The witness added the airplane made a shallow left-hand turn and the nose began to pitch up, then the airplane "stalled and the aircraft went nose down." The student pilot was a paraplegic and had obtained approximately 74 total hours of flight time, of which approximately 25 hours were accumulated in the same make and model as the accident airplane. The student had accumulated approximately 6 hours of solo flight time prior to the accident flight. The aircraft utilized a rudder hand control, which allowed the pilot to operate the rudder pedals manually. The student had performed a demonstrated ability flight utilizing the hand control 5 days before the accident. A post accident examination of the wreckage revealed the propeller had sliced through 4-inch thick tree branches. The right magneto would not operate following the accident and it was noted that the breaker points would not open, oil and dirt were found in the magneto housing, and the magneto's drive was excessively loose. At the time of the last annual inspection, the engine's magneto timing was checked. A service bulletin issued for the affected magneto required an inspection of the magnetos every 500 hours. At the time of the accident, the magneto had accumulated a total time in service of 1,256.36 hours, and there was no entry indication the service bulletin had been complied with. No other anomalies were noted with the airplane and engine. The density altitude was computed to be 8,400 feet.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.