ERA25LA350

On September 17, 2025 at 1000 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-28-181 100i, N580JA, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Astatula, Florida. The student pilot sustained minor injuries. The airplane was operated as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight.  The student pilot was performing three solo, full-stop/taxi-back landings. During her third landing approach, she executed a go-around due to traffic on the runway and departed the traffic pattern due to too much congestion. During the climb, she engaged the autopilot and set it for a climb, then switched fuel tanks. Once she was done switching fuel tanks, she saw that the airplane’s airspeed and engine’s rpm was increasing as the airplane descended. She disconnected the autopilot, reduced engine power, and leveled the airplane’s nose to stop the descent. A few seconds later, the airplane began to pitch down and descend again. She applied maximum back pressure on the controls to attempt to bring the nose back up, but the airplane remained in a descent. Upon realizing she was unable to arrest the descent, she located a dirt road and attempted to land. During the landing, the right wing struck a power pole, and a fence, resulting in substantial damage to the right and left wings; the right wing was partially impact-separated mid span and the left wingtip was crushed. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed the stabilator trim tab was deflected to the full nose down position with the position of the flight control surface being consistent with the position of the indicator in the cockpit. The pilot stated that throughout the accident sequence, she did not manipulate the stabilator trim controls. The wreckage was retained for further examination.