Piper PA-28-161 N3024Z

Summary

On 1 June 2008 at about 02:30 local time, a Piper PA-28-161 registered N3024Z was involved in an accident near Wildwood, New Jersey, United States. One person was 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

1 June 2008 at 02:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Wildwood, New Jersey, United States

Nearest airport

Cape May County Airport (WWD)

Coordinates

39.0083, -74.9081

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-161

Registration

N3024Z

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Hammonton → Wildwood

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

NYC08CA200

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from trees during approach. Contributing to the accident were the dark night conditions.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot of the PA-28-161 was making a straight-in visual approach on a "very dark" night. He reported that the precision approach path indicator (PAPI) showed "glide good with two white and two red," and the altimeter indicated 1,000 feet mean sea level (msl) when he was approximately 2 miles north of the airport. The pilot did not reference the altimeter or PAPI again, and did not turn on the landing light. The runway was equipped with high intensity runway edge lights, which the pilot activated. About 1/2 mile from the airport, he could see car headlights on the road just before the airport fence. Upon hearing a "loud bang" and feeling an impact with trees to the right wing, the pilot applied full power, pulled back on the yoke, and the airplane rolled right. He was able to climb the airplane and achieve wings-level flight with the application of full left aileron. He flew a traffic pattern and returned to land with "heavy left aileron and rudder."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.