Piper J3C accident near Paso Robles, CA
On June 7, 2014, a Piper J3C (airplane) was involved in an accident near Paso Robles, CA. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- June 7, 2014
- Place
- Paso Robles, CA
- Aircraft
- Piper J3C · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 35.560°N, 120.792°W
- NTSB ID
- 20140607X42041
Official records · WPR14FA234
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn June 7, 2014, about 1005 Pacific daylight time, a Piper J3C-65, N24918, collided with terrain during the takeoff initial climb from Oak Country Ranch Airport near Paso Robles, California. The owner was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91. The commercial pilot and the private pilot-rated passenger sustained fatal injuries. The airplane sustained substantial damage during the accident sequence. The cross-country personal flight was departing with a planned destination of Paso Robles Municipal Airport. Visual (VMC) meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed. The private pilot-rated passenger owned the airplane and the private airport. Several acquaintances met the pilot at the airplane as he was going to allow them to cut firewood close to the runway. The acquaintances went to the wood cutting site, which was a couple of hundred yards west of the departure end of the runway, and at a slight higher elevation than the runway. They observed the airplane lift off, and bank to the right as it was climbing. The bank angle continued to steepen until the wings were vertical to the ground, and the airplane appeared to be very slow; it then went nose low directly toward the ground. Terrain prevented them from seeing ground impact. The airplane came to rest about 500 feet west of the midpoint of the runway. Some of the acquaintances had medical training, and immediately responded to the crash site. A caretaker at the ranch had observed numerous takeoffs, and stated that he had seen not
Probable cause
The pilot's steep right turn shortly after takeoff, which led to the airplane exceeding its critical angle-of-attack and experiencing an aerodynamic stall.
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Browse: California · Piper aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
