AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT REPORT - LAS VEGAS AIRLINES, PIPER PA-31-350, N44LV, LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, AUGUST 30, 1978

About 0747 P.d.t., August 30, 1978, Las Vegas Airlines Flight 44, a Piper PA-31-350 (N44LV), crashed in VFR conditions shortly after takeoff from runway 25 at the North Las Vegas Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada. Flight 44 was a charter flight from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Santa Ana, California, with nine passengers and a pilot on board. After liftoff following a longer-than-normal ground roll, the aircraft pitched nose up, climbed steeply to about 400 ft above the ground, stalled, reversed course, and crashed 1,150 ft beyond and 650 ft to the right of the runway. There was no fire. All persons on board the aircraft were killed. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the backed out elevator down-stop bolt that limited down elevator travel and made it impossible for the pilot to prevent a pitchup and stall after takeoff. The Board was not able to determine conclusively how the down-stop bolt jam nut locking device came loose and allowed the stop bolt to back out.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Paper copy also available on subscription, North American Continent price $40.00/year; all others write for quote.
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Bureau of Accident Investigation, 800 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1978-6-7

Media Info

• Pagination: 37 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air transportation crashes; Bolts; Control devices; Crash causes; Crash investigation; Failure; Flight control systems; Passenger aircraft; Rolling; Stall; Takeoff
• Old TRIS Terms: Climbing; Roll
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00198504
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-AAR-79-8
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 17 1979 12:00AM