20190411006409A

At approximately 18:55 EDT on April 11, aircraft N35658, a Piper PA-28R-201, s/n 28R-7737106, crashed in a baseball field at the h c wilcox technical high school on 298 Oregon rd. in meriden, CT. There were two persons onboard, both individuals were certificated pilots. Both persons sustained minor injuries and were transported to a local hospital.

The flight was conducted under 14 CFR part 91 and originated at meriden markham airport (mmk). Weather was visual meteorological conditions, and was not a factor. On scene investigation revealed that the aircraft impacted power lines. The aircraft then dropped and impacted the ground tail first. It came to rest upright on a heading of 108 degrees. All major components of the aircraft were accounted for at the scene. There were several power line cables wrapped around the right wing. One power line cable cut through the upper and lower section of the left wing fuel tank. The wings were intact but showed signs of buckling. The flaps were bent under the wings and both main gears were collapsed. The tail section was crush horizontally toward the baggage compartment and vertically toward the ground. The vertical stabilizer and rudder had sheared off and were laying on top of the right side of the horizontal stabilizer. The cabin compartment was crushed in from the top. The center windshield post was snapped in half and the right windshield frame was separated from the cabin. The windshield was shattered and was found forward of the engine. The cabin door was detached from the aircraft and was laying on the right wing. The engine compartment forward of the firewall appeared to have sustained very little damage. The top cowl was leaning against the right hand engine compartment but appeared it had been removed by first responders. All cables and hoses appeared to be still connected to the engine. The prop spinner and one blade had damage that may have been caused by contact with the power line cable. The nose gear appeared to be still intact. There was no fuel noted in either tank. The right tank was intact, the left tank was sliced in half by the power line cable. The only smell of fuel on scene was at the right wing root trailing edge. The throttle, mixture and prop controls were in the full forward position. The flap handle was pulled full up putting the flaps in in the down position, however it was unclear if the impact caused this. The fuel selector was on the left tank. The pilot stated he intended to fly in the airport traffic pattern. There was one wing full of fuel and the other wing was above the tabs. They departed runway 18 and turned to 1000 ft AGL. Abeam the numbers, he lowered the gear and the first notch of flaps. He reduced the manifold pressure from 21 to 15 on base and selected the second notch of flaps. He reached an altitude of 500 ft AGL on his base leg and increased the manifold pressure 2100 to maintain altitude until final but noted no increase in power. He noted that engine RPM was 2000 RPM and dropping. He put controls in the hot start configuration, but nothing happened, and the propeller was windmilling. He heard no unusual sounds or feel. He turned to the runway, but they were losing altitude and he did not think they would get over trees, so he turned right and aimed for the ball field. The aircraft had a total time of 1649.23 hours as recorded by the tachometer. The engine had received a major overhaul 62.7 hours prior to the accident. The most recent maintenance on the aircraft was the replacement of the rear alternator support bracket Lycoming p/n LW-13365. It was replaced with a serviceable used bracket on April 10th one day and .1 hours before the accident. The aircraft had received 23.7 gallons of fuel on April 7th, at a tach time of 1648.00 hours from flightlevel FBO, hudson valley regional airport (pou) poughkeepsie, NY. The individual fueling the aircraft stated that he topped off both wings.