Piper PA-28-180 N5136L

Summary

On 18 January 2003 at about 17:10 local time, a Piper PA-28-180 registered N5136L was involved in an accident near Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

18 January 2003 at 17:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Poughkeepsie, New York, United States

Nearest airport

Dutches County (POU)

Coordinates

41.6267, -73.8842

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-180

Registration

N5136L

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Poughkeepsie → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC03LA041

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to maintain an adequate amount of engine power while maneuvering to land, which produced delayed engine response times. A facture in the accident was the cold day.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

With the outside air temperature approximately 12 degrees Fahrenheit and the dew point approximately -8 degrees Fahrenheit, the pilot departed for closed traffic. He turned final about 0.5 mile from the runway, and was a "little" higher than anticipated." He reduced throttle, and the airplane intercepted the glide path about 350 feet from the end of the runway. He then added throttle to maintain his descent angle, but engine power did not increase. He waited a couple of seconds, and added more throttle. Still power did not increase, so he added a "substantial" amount of throttle, and started to flare the airplane. The engine responded, but before the pilot could arrest the descent rate, the airplane touched down short of the runway. Examination of the engine and carburetor revealed no preimpact failures or malfunctions. Research has shown that when engine power is reduced to idle, the engine cools rapidly, and vaporization of fuel is less complete, which can slow engine response times, or cause a complete loss of engine power. Sudden throttle movements can aggravate this situation, and the pilot should try to keep the engine warm during glides by frequently opening the throttle.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.