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Atlas / NTSB / WPR25LA272

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event WPR25LA272

2025-08-31 Jamesburg, California, United States Airport · SNS Minor 1 aircraft Status: In work

Registry · N15WJ

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

AMERICAN CHAMPION AIRCRAFT 8KCAB

Year of manufacture

1999 · 26 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING AEIO-360 SER (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

1 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19990217

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A0C9D3

Registrant of record

FLEMING LAURENCE ERIK

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

On August 31, 2025, about 1100 Pacific daylight time, an American Champion 8KCAB Super Decathlon 177, N3357T, sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident near Jamesburg, California. The pilot and pilot rated passenger sustained minor injuries. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot reported that they were on a scenic flight, maneuvering over a canyon area between 1,500 to 2,000 ft above ground level (agl) with clear skies and no turbulence. With the pilot-rated passenger on the controls, she leveled off about 2,000 ft agl, and then commented that the airplane “wanted to keep descending.” As directed by the pilot, she advanced the throttle to full power, but the airplane continued to descend. She maintained the airplane’s heading while the pilot manipulated the throttle, but there was no response from the engine and the airplane continued to descend and lose airspeed. The pilot then initiated a precautionary landing onto rough terrain where the airplane struck a tree and came to rest on sloped terrain. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings and fuselage. The airplane was recovered to a secure facility for further examination. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2025_WPR25LA272.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (turbulence). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗