NTSB CAROL · Event
Event CEN20LA436
Registry · N88204
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
PIPER J3C-65
Engine
CONT MOTOR C90-12F (95 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
20200518
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AC27B8
Registrant of record
WALLACE GERALD G JR
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s loss of situation awareness which resulted in landing in a grass area and the subsequent collision with a runway marker.
Factual narrative
The pilot planned a personal flight to a nearby airport that had recently added new runways. Before the flight, his flight instructor sent him an airport diagram with the new grass runway marked, which was parallel to an asphalt runway. After the pilot reviewed the diagram, he thought he knew where to expect the new grass runway. While in the traffic pattern at the destination airport, the pilot noticed a large open grass space below him, so he landed the airplane. The pilot landed to the east but thought he had landed to the west. The area that he landed on was not the grass runway; while completing a fast taxi, the airplane collided with a runway marker for the north-south runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and left wing spar. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Identification/recognition-Pilot
- — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Sign/marker-Decision related to condition
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2020_CEN20LA436.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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