- Date
- May 15, 1999, 12:00 local (16:00 UTC)
- Place
- Brooksville, FL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8055YPiper PA-30
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 12, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19990515030139A
- Case key
- 46362
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 certified flight instructor's failure to recover from a porpoise during landing and his failure to maintain directional control.
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 flight instructor and private pilot arrived at their destination after an uneventful flight. Upon touchdown on the runway, the airplane porpoised, ballooned, and yawed to the left with the left wing low and the nose in a nose high attitude. The instructor took control of the aircraft and during the second landing attempt the right main gear collapsed. The right wing and propeller struck the runway. The airplane subsequently departed the left edge of the runway at an angle of approximately 45 degrees. No mechanical problems were reported by the pilot.
Factual narrative
On May 15, 1999, at 1200 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-30, N8055Y, collided with the runway when the right main gear collapsed on landing at the Hernando County Airport, in Brooksville, Florida. The dual instructional flight was operated by the certified flight instructor (CFI) under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91, and visual flight rules. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The CFI and the private pilot were not injured and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The flight originated from Orlando Executive Airport, Orlando, Florida, at 1130.
According to the CFI, a normal preflight and run-up was conducted prior to the flight to Brooksville, Florida. The enroute portion of the flight was uneventful with no mechanical problems reported by the CFI. The instructor reported that the Automated Surface Observation System (ASOS) at the destination airport indicated that the winds were variable from the northeast at 10 to 12 knots. The CFI elected to use runway 09. A before landing checklist was completed, and the CFI reported that a visual check of the landing showed all three wheels down and locked. Upon touchdown, the airplane "suddenly and inexplicably porpoise on to the nose gear." The airplane then "ballooned" yawing left with the left wing low and, at a nose-high attitude. The CFI took control of the airplane and took the following corrective action: added full power, applied right rudder, applied right aileron and applied forward pressure on the yoke. Attempts by the CFI to correct the attitude of the airplane failed. The right main landing gear subsequently collapsed, and the airplane departed the left edge of runway 09 at a 45 degree angle.
Damage to the airplane consisted of the right wing spar, right tip tank, right horizontal stabilizer, right main gear, right propeller, and the right flap lower attach points.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8055Y
- Reported as
- Piper PA-30
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 30-1168
- Airframe hours
- 8,114
- Engine
- Lycoming I0-360-CIC, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Joseph A. Levandowski
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 23, 1998 · 19 hours before
- Departed
- ORL · Orlando, FL
- Destination
- BKV
- Airport
- BKV · Hernando County, runway 9, 7,001 × 50 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
- 33
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 1,276 total · 212 in this make and model · 1,209 as pilot in command · 41 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 30° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BKV
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.