- Date
- September 7, 2002, 14:30 local (18:30 UTC)
- Place
- Winder, GA
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7817YPiper PA-30-30
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 30, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Atlanta FSDO
- FAA report
- 20020907024349A
- Case key
- 55667
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during landing roll which resulted in the subsequent collision with an airport sign and the collapse of the main landing gear. the pilot's improper recovery from a bounced landing was a contributing factor.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
Airplane bounced and porpoised two or three times on attempt to land. It then departed the runway to the left where it struck a metal runway sign and slid approximately 1000 ft from where it left the runway.
Factual narrative
On September 7, 2002, at 1430 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-30-30, N7817Y, registered to a private owner and operated by the commercial pilot, collided with a runway sign during landing on runway 05, at the Winder-Barrow airport in Winder, Georgia. The personal flight was operated under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91, and visual flight rules. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the local flight. The pilot and two passengers were not injured and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The flight departed Lawrenceville, Georgia, at 1330 on September 7, 2002.
According to the pilot, after flaring to land, the airplane bounced and made a turn to the left at which point he could no longer control it. According to witnesses at the accident site, the airplane porpoised two to three times during the approach to land. After landing, the airplane departed the runway surface at a 45-degree angle and struck a runway sign with the right wing. The left main landing gear collapsed as the airplane spun around. The airplane proceeded tail first across a taxiway and into an open field coming to rest about 1000 feet from the point where the airplane departed the runway.
The airplane sustained damage to the right wing, right aileron, left wing, left landing gear and both flaps. The pilot did not report a mechanical problem with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7817Y
- Reported as
- Piper PA-30-30
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 30-894
- Airframe hours
- 7,268.2
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-320B, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Joel H Sargent
- Registered owner
- William P Stephen
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 24, 2002
- Departed
- WDR · Winder, GA
- Destination
- WDR · Winder, GA
- Airport
- WDR · Winder-Barrow, runway 050, 3,610 × 100 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 38
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Last flight review
- October 19, 2001
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 866 total · 155 in this make and model · 505 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 45° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.26 inHg
- Observed at
- WDR
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.