Piper PA-28-181 N309PA

Summary

On 30 August 2012 at about 22:45 local time, a Piper PA-28-181 registered N309PA, operated by Transpac Aviation Academy, was involved in an accident near Wickenburg, Arizona, United States. 3 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

30 August 2012 at 22:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Wickenburg, Arizona, United States

Coordinates

33.9706, -112.7950

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-181

Registration

N309PA

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Transpac Aviation Academy

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Gila Bend → Wickenburg

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR12CA380

Nobody was injured.

The flight instructor’s delayed response in correcting the student pilot’s improper landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor said that during a landing, the student pilot flared too high and that he then took over control of the airplane. The airplane landed hard, and the tail tie-down hook struck the runway and was displaced into the fuselage, substantially damaging the aft bulkhead. Although the instructor conducted a postflight inspection of the airplane, the damage was not discovered at the time. When the flight instructor performed the next takeoff, he noticed that the elevator flight control was sluggish and minimally responsive, and the airplane’s climb performance was poor. The flight instructor landed the airplane without further incident. The damage was discovered during a subsequent inspection. The flight instructor reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have affected normal operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.