Piper PA-28-161 N373CA

Summary

On 19 June 2012 at about 17:00 local time, a Piper PA-28-161 registered N373CA, operated by Jules Aircraft Inc, was involved in an accident near Lake Wales, Florida, 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

19 June 2012 at 17:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Lake Wales, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Lake Wales Municipal Airport (X07)

Coordinates

27.8894, -81.6189

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-161

Registration

N373CA

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Jules Aircraft Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Kissimmee → Lakes Wales

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA12CA407

Nobody was injured.

The flight instructor’s inadequate supervision of the student pilot’s power management, which resulted in a hard landing. Contributing to the accident was the student pilot's premature power reduction during the landing flare.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the flight instructor, he was conducting a training flight on short-field landings with the student pilot. During the last short-field landing, as the airplane flew over the runway numbers, the student pilot reduced the engine power to idle, and the airplane dropped and landed hard. According to the student pilot, as the airplane began to descend, he attempted a go-around, but did not advance the throttle quickly enough, and the airplane landed hard on the runway. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the firewall was buckled. The flight instructor and student pilot did not report any malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.