Piper PA 32-300 N54476

Summary

On 1 March 2018 at about 15:51 local time, a Piper PA 32-300 registered N54476, operated by Garrison Ronald L, was involved in an accident near Pompano Beach, 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

1 March 2018 at 15:51

Classification

Accident

Location

Pompano Beach, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Pompano Beach Airpark (PMP)

Coordinates

26.2486, -80.1181

Aircraft

Piper PA 32-300

Registration

N54476

Category

Airplane

Year built

1973

Engines

1

Operator

Garrison Ronald L

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Pampano Beach → Marsh Harbour

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA18LA102

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack during an aborted landing, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall, loss of control, and impact with terrain. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to maintain a proper approach and landing speed during a precautionary landing following a loss of manifold pressure for reasons that could not be determined.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that, shortly after takeoff while climbing through 800 ft mean sea level (msl), the engine manifold pressure began to drop, and the engine “sounded irregular.” The pilot initiated a return to the airport and requested to land. The pilot and pilot-rated passenger reported that the engine did not respond when the throttle was reduced during the landing approach. The airplane continued toward the runway at high speed and touched down within the last third of the runway surface, where it bounced several times. The pilot first pulled the mixture control to idle/cut off, but when the engine did not respond, richened the mixture, applied full throttle, and initiated an aborted landing. The airplane became airborne, entered a right bank, and began to descend before impacting the ramp near a hangar, resulting in substantial damage. The wind conditions at the time of the accident were consistent with a quartering tailwind of about 8 knots for the landing runway. Examination of the engine revealed no anomalies, and the reasons for the initial loss of manifold pressure could not be determined based on the available information. However, the circumstances of the accident are consistent with the pilot’s exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack after the airplane became airborne, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall, loss of control, and impact with the ramp.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.