- Date
- September 20, 1997, 13:05 local (17:05 UTC)
- Place
- Bennettsville, SC
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9643KPiper PA-28-151
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 26, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19970920027779A
- Case key
- 3900
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
failure of the pilot to properly plan his approach, and his failure to attain a proper touchdown point for landing.
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 of a Piper PA-28-151 made an approach to land at a private airport. According to him, the airplane touched down after 'quite a bit of float.' The pilot stated he saw another airplane parked on the runway a short distance ahead, then he applied left rudder to avoid the parked airplane. As he passed the other airplane, the left wing tip of his airplane struck a hand rail, then the airplane turned left into a gulch and nosed over. According to an FAA inspector, the pilot did not properly plan his approach to landing at the airport. The PA-28-151 Owner's Manual showed that the airplane's required landing distance was approximately 1,100 feet. The runway was 2,300 feet in length. According to the pilot, the other airplane was parked about 550 feet from the departure end of the runway.
Factual narrative
On September 20, 1997, about 1305 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA28-151, N9643K, crashed on rollout after landing at a private sod landing strip near Bennettsville, South Carolina. The airplane was operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91, and visual flight rules. Visual meteorological conditions existed, and no flight plan was filed for the local, personal flight. The private pilot and one passenger were not injured, and the airplane was substantially damaged.
According to the pilot, he landed at the private airport after "quite a bit of float". The runway had a "hill" in the middle which made it difficult to see the entire runway when landing. As he rolled over the hill, the pilot stated he saw another airplane parked on the runway a short distance ahead. The pilot then applied left rudder in order to avoid the parked airplane. As he passed the other airplane, the Piper's left wing tip struck a hand rail and turned left into a gulch. The airplane came to rest nosed over in the gulch.
According to the FAA inspector, the pilot did not properly plan his approach to landing at the airport.
According to the PA-28-151 owner's manual, the airplane's landing distance on a standard day, at maximum gross weight, with a 50 foot obstacle, and on a asphalt runway should be approximately 1,100 feet. Grass runways generally decrease the landing distance approximately 2-3%. The runway at Stanton was 2,300 feet. According to the pilot, the other airplane was parked about 550 feet from the departure end of the runway.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9643K
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-151
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 76-15222
- Airframe hours
- 1,805
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E30, 151 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Richard Sanderson
- Registered owner
- Bruce Baxter
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 3, 1997 · 68 hours before
- Departed
- 8A6 · Charlotte, NC
- Airport
- Stanton, runway 12, 2,300 × 75 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
- 64
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 329 total · 55 in this make and model · 149 as pilot in command · 16 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 4 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- FLO, 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.