Piper PA46 N962WF

Summary

On 11 July 2025 at about 20:30 local time, a Piper PA46 registered N962WF, operated by PAD Aviation LLC, was involved in an accident near Elysburg, Pennsylvania, 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

11 July 2025 at 20:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Elysburg, Pennsylvania, United States

Nearest airport

Northumberland County (N79)

Coordinates

40.8374, -76.5503

Aircraft

Piper PA46

Registration

N962WF

Category

Airplane

Year built

1999

Engines

1

Operator

PAD Aviation LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Coatesville → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA25LA268

Nobody was injured.

Failure of the engine mount which resulted in a collapse of the nose landing gear.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the pilot, while on final approach, he confirmed that he had the flaps down and three green lights indicating the landing gear was down and locked. He touched down on the main landing gear and then the nose gear while using the rudder pedals to maintain directional control. Shortly after, the pilot noticed that the airplane was yawing to the left and the rudder pedals were no longer effective. The nose landing gear had collapsed, and the airplane departed the left side of the runway into a ditch, which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed a broken engine mount where the nose landing gear retract cylinder was located. About 10 years before the accident, the airframe manufacturer issued a service bulletin requiring inspection of this area for cracking after each 100 hours of flight time. The bulletin described that, “Cracks may develop in the area of the nose gear actuator attach feet on the engine mount. This condition can occur when the nose landing gear is subjected to excessive loads due to hard landings, rough field operations, excessive speed turns, improper airplane towing (sudden, aggressive starts and stops), or other improper operations.” The mechanic who performed the last annual inspection stated that he had not completed the inspection specified by the service bulletin and that the airplane had accumulated 138 hours of flight time since the last compliance. Whether the nose landing gear collapse that occurred during the accident flight was the result of previous, undetected cracking or the landing on the accident flight was not determined.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.