The private pilot, who was the owner of the Piper PA-28, was landing at the airport in Ray, Michigan, following a local flight.
Witnesses reported that the airplane made several landing attempts, but, each time, the airplane was too fast or too high to land.
On the last attempt, the airplane touched down hard and fast about halfway down the 2,495′ runway. The airplane continued off the end of the runway, across a road, through a field, and hit several small trees and a tractor before coming to a stop.
The pilot was seriously injured in the crash.
An examination of the airplane’s systems revealed no pre-impact anomalies that contributed to the accident.
A flight instructor who had previously flown with the pilot told the pilot that he should fly only with an instructor on board, and that he was not ready to fly the airplane alone. It is likely the pilot did not have the necessary experience to conduct a successful landing in the airplane.
Probable cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain a proper approach speed, which resulted in a hard landing and a runway excursion. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s decision to fly the airplane without an instructor onboard.
NTSB Identification: CEN17LA341
This May 2017 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Just to clear up some misconceptions and provide more detail I did some research on this accident. The pilot did indeed hold a Private Pilot license and had a current 3rd class medical. That medical was issued with waivers/limitations but no specifics were available, in my search at least, so could that be a factor? The pilot was 73 years old and with that open question related to his medical there is some plausibility that he did momentarily blackout. He was landing at the same airport he departed so it would seem that he has some experience with that runway and it is not a case of distorted perspective from being accustomed to big runways. With all that added to the discussion I would have to say how did this guy ever get a license if he could not safely land a Cherokee 140 on a 2495×60 runway? Unless they totally skipped the practical portion of the license exam his lack of skills should have been obvious. My only guess is that he had a very old and dusty license and suddenly decided to resume flying with little more then a quick BFR (8 months prior) to get him current. The one bit of info that could possibly shed some light would be the date that the license was issued so we would know how recent his experience was along with hours flown in the last 90 days.
These documents are linked to the final report.
Regarding medical certificate limitations – according to the NTSB accident report, eyeglasses. Nothing else.
Regarding pilot’s license – according to the NTSB Operations Inspector report, he has a private pilot certificate – he had been out of flying for about 11 years and then bought a Cherokee 140. He received over 8 hours of instruction and successfully completed a flight review in Sept of 2016. A month later, he crashed that airplane collapsing the nose gear. Six months later, he bought this airplane. He flew with a flight instructor on two flights who told him not to go solo in the airplane until he got some more experience and also indicated in the report that the pilot was not competent.
Regarding the pilot’s statement I mentioned before and you mentioned the plausibility of a momentary blackout, the pilot’s actual statement was “first landing attemp (sic) was high and performed a go around. second attemp (sic) felt I was long hit throtle (sic) lost conciousness (sic). I later realized this did not seem to correlate to witness reports “that the pilot made several landing attempts”. The sheriff’s report indicated the pilot had serious injuries (airplane had only a lap belt), so as is often the case, traumatic injuries can cause the victim to be confused about the circumstances or even have no recall of the accident. In this case, maybe ‘hit throttle and lost consciousness’ just describes the sequence during the crashed landing – that he applied throttle when the crash was imminent or beginning ground contact in an attempt to go-around and then lost consciousness as that progressed into the impact.
The instructor’s written report (part of the sheriff’s report) has alarming comments – the pilot “has shown a disregard for his own personal safety and that of others around him. His actions were reckless operation of the aircraft and a total disregard of life”. I wouldn’t question his observations but do note that the pilot before that time seemed to be doing everything correctly. He returned to flying which we all like to see, did eight hours of training, had a current flight review, current medical, and current annual on the airplane. Why would proficiency change so drastically? Why would he disregard the instructor’s recommendation. I couldn’t find any information in the reports to answer those questions.
“The pilot did not have the necessary experience” and the instructor’s recommendation to not fly alone implies the person involved was a student pilot who disobeyed an instructor’s limitation, which would be a reg violation if put in a student’s logbook. But according to the final report this person was a private pilot who had a current flight review and medical, and owned an airplane which had a current annual. The full narrative and final report include this statement made by the pilot – “On the second landing attempt, the pilot said he was long. He said he applied throttle and lost consciousness.” Simply put this report is incomplete and misleading.
…..a statement made by the pilot – “……the pilot said he was long…..”
That does not make sense, unless the pilot was doing a Ricky Henderson and speaking about himself in the third person.
in any case, it does not appear that this individual should have been flying solo, either due to not being competent from a flying skills standpoint, or from a physical standpoint.
Again, the checklist for deciding if today is a good day for flying not only includes the condition of the plane, condition of the weather, but also the physical, mental, and emotional condition of the pilot. A crusty old airline captain once told me that from the time he woke in the morning to the time that he pushed the throttles up at the end of the departure runway, he was constantly looking for a reason NOT to go flying.
Not much more to say.
However I wonder what flight instructor he had.
I’ve had some students who made the same mistake again and again, so I tried to let them find their own ways.
I’ve never had ONE student who was ‘too dumb to fly’!
However, I remember one student who has had a constant problem with the same basic maneuver.
I’ve always been calm and patient but she got more and more tense during that maneuver, so one day I suggested her to go fly with another FI.
Later she told me that when she had made her usual mistake, again, that flught instructor got rude which made her so angry that she did not care if he liked it or not. That way she relaxed and the problem was gone.
I wonder if that 210 hrs TT pilot had the right flight instructor.
Here’s a guy who has no patience, and disregarded the flight instructor’s order. He was not cleared to solo, yet he did it anyway. So he pays with serious injuries, and a busted up airplane that his insurance will most likely not cover. What a price to pay for a stupid decision.
The pilot had 210 hrs total and 50 hrs in make and model. If he couldn’t land his PA -28 after that many hours, the instructor should have told him to take up basket weaving instead.
Agreed. Not everyone has the ability to do flight. The Piper PA-28 is about as benign an aircraft as exists and was designed to be a trainer. Even easier to fly than a light-sport.
I agree. I have hundreds of hours instructing in C-172s and PA-28s. I think the Cherokee 140 is the easiest plane that I’ve ever landed. If a Private Pilot cannot land a Cherokee 140 then they need to ground themselves and get some dual until they’re proficient.
10 hours of dual in your own plane would cost about $300. Seems pretty cheap compared to this guys medical bills, insurance deductible, and new insurance rates.