Piper PA-28-181 N580JA

Summary

On 17 September 2025 at about 14:00 local time, a Piper PA-28-181 registered N580JA, operated by Orlando Flight Academy, was involved in an accident near Astatula, Florida, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. No probable cause has been published yet; this accident is still under investigation.

Date

17 September 2025 at 14:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Astatula, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Orlando Apopka (X04)

Coordinates

28.6779, -81.7062

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-181

Registration

N580JA

Category

Airplane

Year built

2022

Engines

1

Operator

Orlando Flight Academy

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Apopka → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA25LA350

1 person had minor injuries.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. The investigation is still open; a final report usually follows one to two years after the accident.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

On September 17, 2025 at 1000 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-28-181 100i, N580JA, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Astatula, Florida. The student pilot sustained minor injuries. The airplane was operated as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight.  The student pilot was performing three solo, full-stop/taxi-back landings. During her third landing approach, she executed a go-around due to traffic on the runway and departed the traffic pattern due to too much congestion. During the climb, she engaged the autopilot and set it for a climb, then switched fuel tanks. Once she was done switching fuel tanks, she saw that the airplane’s airspeed and engine’s rpm was increasing as the airplane descended. She disconnected the autopilot, reduced engine power, and leveled the airplane’s nose to stop the descent. A few seconds later, the airplane began to pitch down and descend again. She applied maximum back pressure on the controls to attempt to bring the nose back up, but the airplane remained in a descent. Upon realizing she was unable to arrest the descent, she located a dirt road and attempted to land. During the landing, the right wing struck a power pole, and a fence, resulting in substantial damage to the right and left wings; the right wing was partially impact-separated mid span and the left wingtip was crushed. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed the stabilator trim tab was deflected to the full nose down position with the position of the flight control surface being consistent with the position of the indicator in the cockpit. The pilot stated that throughout the accident sequence, she did not manipulate the stabilator trim controls. The wreckage was retained for further examination.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.