20140425011639A

N56755, a PA-34-200 operated by united flight systems flight school, when he attempted to land at David Wayne Hooks Airport, which resulted in an accident.

The pilot-in command of a PA-34-200 was demonstrating a short field landing to a student. He reported that he touched down just past the numbers of runway 17L and was having a hard time with directional control of the airplane. The pilot stated that this was because the right brake was not working. The pilot then asked the student to try his brakes and the student stated he tried his break and it did not work.

A copy of the airport diagram was given to the pilot and he was asked to indicate where he touched down, where he shut down the engines, and where the plane came to rest. From what he reported, after traveling approximately 1,500 feet down the runway, the pilot decided to shut down the engines with the mixtures. Approximately 900 feet after shutting down the engines, the plane went off the side of the runway and came to rest in a ditch.

The resulting damage was: 1) both main gears broken, 2) the nose wrinkled and twisted, 3) the cabin was twisted, so that the door would not close correctly, 4) the tail was wrinkled, twisted and bent. This all resulted in the aircraft receiving substantial damage.

The pilot was asked why he landed on a runway which was 3,987 feet long and 35 feet wide, instead of the runway which was 7009 feet long and 100 feet wide, he reported that the big runway was closed for the mowers. When asked why he did not do a go-around when he had more than 2,000 feet remaining and then use the big runway, the pilot responded that he could not because he had shut down the engines.

An inspection of the plane by a local airframe and power plant mechanic and owner of the aircraft, showed that the hand brake and toe brakes both had pressure. Local airframe and power plant mechanic stated that he asked the pilot why he did not try the hand brake and the response was, ?I was shutting down the engines.?

An inspection of the accident area showed that the plane left two skid marks from the place where the plane left the runway to the accident scene.

An inspection of the brake pads showed that the pads had about half of their pad left.

The pilot reported that the winds were 170 at 9, at the time of the accident which was 1825 local. The national oceanic & atmospheric administration reported that at 1753 local time the winds were at 100 at 6 and at 1853 local time the winds were 130 at 9. This shows that the pilot did not understand or expect a crosswind from the left and did not make corrections. According to the airplane flying handbook this could be a contributing factor to the departure from the runway to the left, when the plane weathervane into the wind.