General William J Fox Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Lancaster, California 93536
Tuesady, September 10, 1996 11:25 PDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The student pilot was on his second supervised solo, performing a touch-and-go landing. He landed right of the runway centerline and corrected his alignment during the landing roll. He then added power, and the airplane veered left. The student attempted to correct back to the centerline, but the airplane started to skid, and it departed the runway. It then encountered soft terrain, and the nose gear collapsed. No pre-accident failure or malfunction of the airplane was reported. The wind was reported to be calm.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

failure of the student pilot to maintain direction control of the airplane, which resulted in an inadvertent ground swerve and subsequent collapse of the nose gear, during an encountered with soft terrain.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 9/10/1996
Event Day of the Week Tuesday
Time of Event 1125
Event Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Event City LANCASTER
Event State CALIFORNIA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 93536
Event Date Year 1996
Event Date Month 9
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude
Event Location Longitude
Event Location Airport GENERAL WILLIAM J FOX
Event Location Nearest Airport ID WJF
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport On Airport
Distance from airport in statute miles --
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation 2347
Weather Briefing Completeness Unknown
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1050 Pacific Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 20
Weather Observation Facility ID WJF
Elevation of weather observation facility 2347
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 1
Time Zone of the weather observation PDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 0
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 0
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Clear
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling None
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) 0
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) 0
Visibility (Statute Miles) 50
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 28
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 2
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 0
Variable Wind Indicator Unknown
Wind Speed (knots) 0
Wind Velocity Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) 0
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation Unknown
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury None
On Ground, Fatal Injuries 0
On Ground, Minor Injuries 0
On Ground, Serious Injuries 0
Injury Total Fatal --
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None 1
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 601
NTSB Notification Source --
NTSB Notification Date Sep 10 1996 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1310
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information IMAGE
Date of most recent change to record Dec 8 2000 10:22AM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N4308F
NTSB Number LAX96LA332
Missing Aircraft Indicator N
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed None
Flight plan Was Activated? --
Damage Substantial
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Piper
Aircraft Model PA-28-140
Aircraft Series Identifier PA-28-140
Aircraft Serial Number 28-7725006
Certified Max Gross Weight 2150
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil
Aircraft is a homebuilt? No
Flight Crew Seats --
Cabin Crew Seats --
Passenger Seats --
Total number of seats on the aircraft 4
Number of Engines 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection 100 Hour
Date of Last Inspection Jul 19 1996 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 77
Airframe Hours 3637
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Unknown
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name FATTOUCH, ALFRED G.
Aircraft Owner Street Address 525 WEST 5175 STREET
Aircraft Owner City OGDEN
Aircraft Owner State UT
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 84403
Operator is an individual? --
Operator Name AV AVIATION
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address 4555 WEST AVE G, SUITE 2
Operator City LANCASTER
Operator State CA
Operator Country
Operator Zip code 93536
Operator Code
Owner has at least one certificate None
Other Operator of large aircraft? No
Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation Unknown
Operator Certificate Number --
Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not --
Indicates Domestic or International Flight --
Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail --
Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) Instructional
Second Pilot on Board No
Departure Point Same as Event Yes
Departure Airport Code WJF
Departure City
Departure State
Departure Country
Departure Time 1100
Departure Time Zone PDT
Destination Same as Local Flt dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere
Destination Airport Code
Destination City
Destination State
Destination Country
Specific Phase of Flight Takeoff
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Jan 2 2001 10:34AM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location 24
Runway Length 5001
Runway Width 150
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --