- Date
- August 16, 1991, 13:36 local (17:36 UTC)
- Place
- Chamblee, GA
- Injuries
- 2 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N4164WPiper PA-32-300D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 4, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910816034749A
- Case key
- 8458
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 premature lift off when he failed to identify rotation airspeed and the subsequent inadvertent stall of the airplane.
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 & his wife had picked up the airplane after maintenance had been performed. During the takeoff roll the pilot rotated, he said, at what he believed was rotation speed. The airplane became airborne in ground effect. Shortly afterwards, the left wing dropped, as it stalled, & the nose fell through. The airplane accelerated as it descended to impact on the left wingtip. In his report the pilot said that he rotated at too slow an airspeed & failed to apply sufficient right rudder.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4164W
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32-300D
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32-40238
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-K1A5, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Woodall, Hunter E.
- Registered owner
- Woodall, Hunter E.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 24, 1990 · 23 hours before
- Destination
- 5N4 · Lincolnton, NC
- Airport
- PDK · Dekalb-Peachtree, runway 2, 3,744 × 150 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
- 34
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 480 total · 20 in this make and model · 400 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 8 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 350° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PDK, 1 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.