While conducting touch-and-go landings and as the private pilot landed the Piper PA-28R for the third time, the right main landing gear and nose landing gear collapsed, and the right wing was partially separated from the airplane.
Post-accident examination of the airplane revealed that maintenance personnel had improperly secured an unused instrument lamp socket during recent maintenance, which allowed an electrical short of the landing gear controls. [Read more…]
The accident flight was the Piper PA-12’s first flight after undergoing restoration over the course of two years.
Although the mechanic who had worked on the airplane with the pilot wanted the pilot to do a high-speed taxi test before flight, the pilot wanted to “hurry up” and test fly the airplane as he had a friend visiting and wanted to take him flying in the airplane.
During the takeoff, witnesses observed the airplane pitch up into a nose-high attitude just after liftoff, stall, and descend in a nose-down attitude to hit the ground at the airport in Sanford, Florida. The pilot died in the crash. [Read more…]
The pilot of the tailwheel-equipped Piper J-3 Cub reported that his airplane was not equipped with a radio and that the forward visibility was not good when taxiing while piloting the airplane from the rear seat. He entered a left downwind for the runway at the airport in New Carlisle, Ohio, saw no other aircraft while on final, and continued to land.
He added that, during the landing roll, as he turned to clear the runway, his airplane collided with a Cessna 172 that was taxiing on the same runway after having landed on it from the opposite direction. [Read more…]
The commercial pilot and three passengers departed on an instrument flight rules cross-country flight. While on approach to the destination airport, the pilot indicated to the air traffic controller that the Piper PA-46 was passing through areas of moderate to extreme precipitation.
After clearing the airplane for the approach, the controller noted that the airplane descended below its assigned altitude. The controller issued a low altitude alert, but no response was received from the pilot.
The airplane subsequently hit terrain in a level attitude about 12 miles from the airport near Harrisburg, Oregon. All four aboard the plane died in the crash. [Read more…]
The private pilot had not flown in several years and was receiving instruction from a flight instructor. Radar data indicated that the pilots were performing ground reference maneuvers during the flight near Oxford, Iowa.
The data showed that the Piper PA-28 maintained an altitude of 3,400′ mean sea level, about 2,600′ above ground level, before it made a left turn and entered a rapid descent. [Read more…]
The pilot reported that, during his first approach to land at the airport in Granby, Colorado, he performed a go-around due to excess speed on final approach. He added that he retracted the landing gear and flaps and remained in the traffic pattern.
During the second landing, he extended the flaps and reduced power for a normal landing, but during the landing flare, he heard the propeller strike the runway, and the Cessna 210 skidded to a stop. [Read more…]
The airline transport pilot reported to local law enforcement that, while he was flying at 1,000′, the Piper PA-28’s engine experienced a total loss of power. He subsequently conducted a forced landing onto a large trucking yard in Whittier, California.
The landing site was about 61 miles northwest of the departure airport and in the opposite direction of his intended destination. [Read more…]
The pilot reported that, while approaching the airport in Blue Earth, Minnesota, in night, marginal visual meteorological conditions, he turned on the pilot-controlled runway lights. He added that he began a descent to the runway without observing the runway lights or airport and encountered “ground fog” about 200′ to 300′ above ground level (agl).
He added that he continued the descent to the runway while referencing the navigational moving map and GPS altitude on his electronic flight bag (EFB) application ForeFlight.
Subsequently, while in a left turn, the Cessna 182 hit terrain about a nautical mile south of the runway. [Read more…]
The sport pilot and the passenger were making a local flight in the powered parachute near Knoxville, Tennessee. The passenger, who survived the accident, reported that, about an hour into the flight, the pilot turned to the east toward the passenger’s home. After overflying the passenger’s home at low altitude, the pilot maneuvered the powered parachute to the east toward rising terrain and trees.
The passenger’s wife was outside her home at the time of the accident and noticed that the aircraft was flying low, and other witnesses also reported seeing the aircraft flying low before the accident. [Read more…]
The pilot of the retractable-landing-gear Cessna 182 reported that, during the approach of a simulated 180° power-off landing, he became fixated on his touchdown point and did not complete the landing checklist.
He added that he did not look outside to check that the main landing gear was down or to “confirm a green [landing gear position indicator] light.” [Read more…]
