Piper PA28R N287ND

Summary

On 7 June 2024 at about 13:00 local time, a Piper PA28R registered N287ND was involved in an accident near Vero 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

7 June 2024 at 13:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Vero Beach, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Vero Beach Regional (VRB)

Coordinates

27.6556, -80.4180

Aircraft

Piper PA28R

Registration

N287ND

Category

Airplane

Year built

2000

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA24LA250

Nobody was injured.

Excessive side loading of the vertical stabilizer.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During a preflight inspection of a flight school airplane, the flight instructor noticed a missing rivet on the left side of the vertical stabilizer. He also noticed that the skin of the vertical stabilizer was bent outwards. The flight instructor walked around to the right side of the airplane and noticed that the same rivet was missing on that side, and the skin was also bent outwards. He called the maintenance department out to the airplane to look at the damage. They subsequently told him the airplane was not airworthy and to write it up as a discrepancy. The maintenance department immediately grounded all the other airplanes and inspected the vertical stabilizers for any damage. No other damage was noted on the remaining 49 airplanes of the flight school operator’s fleet. It could not be determined when the damage to the vertical stabilizer occurred, but the damage was likely the result of excessive side loading of the vertical stabilizer during flight.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.