- Date
- October 23, 1993, 14:15 local (18:15 UTC)
- Place
- Lexington, NC
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9778CPiper PA-28-161
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 2, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19931023044779A
- Case key
- 3319
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 a crosswind landing. A factor was the crosswind condition.
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 he landed on runway 8, and that after a few feet of landing roll, a gust of wind lifted the airplane and pushed it off the runway to the left. However, the pilot reported the wind was from 060 degrees at 8 knots. The airplane touched down again at the left edge of the runway. It departed the runway, hit a berm, and became airborne again. Subsequently, the airplane struck a hangar.
Factual narrative
On October 23, 1993, about 1415 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-28-161, N9778C, collided with a hangar during landing at the Lexington Municipal Airport, Lexington, North Carolina. The airplane was operated by Southeast Airmotive Corp., under 14 CFR Part 91, and visual flight rules. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. A flight plan was not filed for the solo, cross-country, instructional flight. The student pilot had minor injuries, and the airplane was substantially damaged. Origination of the flight was Charlotte, North Carolina, with an intervening landing at Sanford, North Carolina. The flight departed Sanford at 1330.
The pilot provided the following information: during the landing approach to runway 8 at Lexington, the wind sock was "not fluttering." Just before touchdown the wind was calm. During the landing roll a gust of wind from the right lifted the airplane and blew it to the left. The nose wheel rolled up an incline beside the runway, pitched the nose up, and the airplane bounced into the air. Afterwards, he said, the airplane could not be controlled. The pilot said he had received crosswind landing instruction which consisted of using rudder and aileron to counter the wind and allow it to blow the airplane back to the runway centerline.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9778C
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-161
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-7816528
- Airframe hours
- 5,656
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D36, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Southeast Airmotive, Corp.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 10, 1993
- Departed
- W77 · Sanford, NC
- Destination
- EXX
- Airport
- EXX · Lexington Municipal, runway 8, 3,295 × 65 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
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 53 total · 53 in this make and model · 18 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GSO, 25 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.
Other investigations on N9778C · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.