Piper PA-28-180 N9430J

Summary

On 6 September 2011 at about 01:15 local time, a Piper PA-28-180 registered N9430J, operated by Valentine David L, was involved in an accident near Buena Vista, Colorado, United States. 3 people were on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

6 September 2011 at 01:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Buena Vista, Colorado, United States

Coordinates

38.8136, -106.1233

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-180

Registration

N9430J

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Valentine David L

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Buena Vista → Buena Vista

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN11CA678

1 person had minor injuries.

The airplane’s diminished climb performance due to the pilot not leaning the engine mixture enough prior to takeoff in high density altitude conditions and at nearly maximum gross takeoff weight.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that the airplane took off at a little over 60 knots. He stated that, just after liftoff, the airplane was initially sluggish to climb, so he lowered the nose to gain more speed in ground effect (to about 70 knots). The airplane started to gain some altitude, so the pilot continued the departure. He stated that, shortly after clearing the end of the runway, there was a loss of power and climb performance. With trees and houses ahead and insufficient altitude to clear them, the pilot decided to land in a field with deep grass just north of the airport. Upon landing in the field, the nose landing gear collapsed, resulting in substantial damage to the front of the fuselage. After the accident, the pilot reported that he believed that he may not have leaned the engine enough during run-up, resulting in less than 100 percent available power to climb. He also reported that the spark plugs may have been fouled due to the mixture setting, resulting in the loss of available power immediately after takeoff. The pilot stated that the airplane was loaded to within 65 pounds of its maximum gross weight and with a calculated density altitude of 10,400 feet, the anticipated climb rate of 300 feet per minute required full power as outlined in the Pilot’s Operating Handbook. He stated that, if there were not deep grass in the landing field, he could have landed the airplane without incident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.