Bellanca 1730 N28037

Summary

On 23 November 2019 at about 23:30 local time, a Bellanca 1730 registered N28037 was involved in an accident near Clear Lake, Minnesota, 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

23 November 2019 at 23:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Clear Lake, Minnesota, United States

Nearest airport

Leaders Clear Lake (8Y6)

Coordinates

45.4403, -93.9706

Aircraft

Bellanca 1730

Registration

N28037

Category

Airplane

Year built

1979

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Maple Lake → Clear Lake

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

CEN20CA026

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's focus inside the cockpit during the base turn and final approach, which led to a high sink rate developing and a subsequent hard landing short of the runway.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was conducting a night visual flight to an airport with dim runway lighting. The pilot stated that, during the base turn and final approach, his attention was focused inside the cockpit as he rechecked the landing gear, mixture lever, and propeller lever positions. He noticed a sink rate had developed as the landing lights illuminated a row of 50- to 75-ft-tall trees on final approach. The pilot pulled back aggressively on the yoke to clear the trees. The airplane continued to descend and impacted the ground hard short of the runway. The fuselage and firewall sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported that his attention should have been focused more outside the cockpit during the base turn and final approach and that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.