LAX07CA271
2007-09-09 · Santa Paula, California, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport SZP
Current FAA registration · N1237H
- Make / Model
- PIPER PA-28-140
- Year of manufacture
- 1976 · 31 years old at event
- Seats / Engines
- 4 seats · 1 engine
- Last airworthiness date
- 19761224
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S A0622C
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's unstabilized approach, which resulted in a hard, bounced landing. Also causal was the pilot's inadequate recovery from the bounced landing and his failure to maintain directional control.
Factual narrative
In a written report, the pilot stated that while en route, he noticed his GPS was inoperative and decided to divert to a nearby airport. As he approached the vicinity of the airport, he noted that other traffic was utilizing runway 22, and accordingly entered the traffic pattern on the downwind leg. While on the approach, the pilot could discern that the airplane was excessively high and at a faster-than-normal airspeed, which he believed was a result of his decision to make a short downwind leg. The airplane landed hard and bounced twice, veering off the runway surface. It continued forward and collided with a fence, coming to rest upright on a dirt berm. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or engine. The aircraft sustained substantial damage, including the damage to a wing that would require a major repair. The pilot entered the downwind leg of the traffic pattern to the destination runway. While on approach, the pilot noted the airplane was excessively high, moving at a faster-than-normal airspeed. He attributed the unstabalized approach to be the result of a short downwind leg. The airplane landed hard and bounced. It subsequently veered off the runway surface and collided with a fence, coming to rest on a dirt berm. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or engine. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2007_LAX07CA271.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Search this event elsewhere
External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.
- TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press
- NTSB CAROL Agency ↗
- NTSB Docket Agency ↗
- Aviation Safety Network Aviation press ↗
- Kathryn's Report Aviation press ↗
- Aviation Herald Aviation press ↗
- AVweb Aviation press ↗
- Pilots of America Community ↗
- Reddit /r/flying Community ↗
- FlightAware Aviation press ↗
- AOPA accident database Aviation press ↗
- Google News News ↗
- DuckDuckGo News ↗
Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (unstabilized approach). All research papers
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2023 · Conference paper Utilizing Deep Learning to Predict Unstabilized Approaches for General Aviation Aircraft
Unstabilized approaches pose a major hazard for general aviation aircraft. In the period from 2009 to 2019, 3,257 general aviation accidents occurred during the landing phase of flight in which loss o…
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2014 · Accident report Crash during a Nighttime Nonprecision Instrument Approach — UPS 1354
UPS Flight 1354 (A300-600F) Birmingham AL, August 14, 2013. Investigation of UPS 1354 crash short of runway 18 at Birmingham.