- Date
- July 8, 1989, 11:15 local (15:15 UTC)
- Place
- Holly Hill, SC
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4594TPiper PA28-140
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 11, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890708020939A
- Case key
- 8044
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
Pilot misjudged his landing approach path and crossed the runway threshold too high to safely complete the landing. He also flared the airplane at too high an altitude resulting in a stall to a hard touchdown on the nose wheel exceeding the structural capability of the strut.
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
The pilot reported that after the short flight from summerville to Holly Hill, he descended to 900 ft AGL and made a circuit of the field. He noted the wind to be from 250 degrees at 10-15 KTS by the windsock. He set up for a short field approach to runway 22. After clearing trees on the approach, he steepened the descent by lowering the nose. He crossed the threshold at 150 to 175 feet and when 1200 ft past the threshold, the airplane was about 10 feet off the ground. At that time he stated that he observed the windsock to shift 180 degrees. The airplane started to drop and he applied full power. The airplane hit hard, the nose gear collapsed and the airplane nosed over.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4594T
- Reported as
- Piper PA28-140
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-7225195
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- John J. Kaiser
- Departed
- 61J · Summerville, SC
- Airport
- 5J5 · Holly Hill, runway 22, 2,900 × 150 ft, grass/turf
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
- 56
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 1,597 total · 412 in this make and model · 29 in the last 90 days · 15 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 15 knots
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.