The pilot reported that during an approach into the sun, he believed that his approach angle was too high, and he decided to abort the landing to the airport in Williamsburg, Virginia.
But when he increased the throttle, the engine sputtered, so he decided to continue the landing.
Once on the runway he quickly applied the Piper PA28’s brakes.
The right brake locked up, the airplane left the right side of the runway, and hit a drainage culvert.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing.
The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s excessive brake application during the landing roll, which resulted in a runway excursion and collision with a drainage culvert.
This January 2019 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.
Yes, Wilbur Wrong the FAA accident inspector should know what kind of brakes the plane has as equipment. More modern PA28 have toe brakes but the old dogs have the Johnson bar as the Comanche and the Tri Pacer -Pacer series. I never liked them as I considered it a cheap way out of certification.
In transitioning from Cessnas to a P28A-180C I came to like the hand brake as, unlike the Cessna 15x and 172s, the Piper has positive steering with the nose wheel and not bungee cord type connections to the nose wheel where one has to stand on the brakes to get the sucker to turn if not moving at 5MPH or faster.
There was an STC to put toe brakes in, but the hand brake worked just fine for that plane. So, I wondered if there had been such an STC for the smaller P28As.
The pilot made a telling comment in the pilot’s report – “engine regained full power, however, due to high angle of attack, plane continued to sink”. That appears to indicate another instance of faulty pitch control when executing a go-around, a significant issue as has been mentioned consistently in safety articles.
Toe brakes or hand brake only? That is the question. If hand brake, then there is a problem as both brakes should have been applied equally. Inspector should have known about this for the PA281400 (How about PA28-140?).