- Date
- April 4, 1994, 10:30 local (14:30 UTC)
- Place
- Willimantic, CT
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N30DWPiper PA-28R-200
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 9, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19940404007899A
- Case key
- 8909
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 instructor's inadequate supervision and the student's improper landing flare.
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 purpose of the instructional flight was to conduct touch and go landings at local airports. The student pilot had 74 hours of total flight time. The instructor reported that during one of the touch and go landings, a hard landing was made. The CFI stated that he did not think that the touchdown was hard enough to damage the airplane. At the end of the flight, the instructor noticed the right wing was damaged.
Factual narrative
On April 4, 1994, about 1030 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-28R-200, N30DW, was substantially damaged during a hard landing at the Windham Airport, Willimantic, Connecticut. The certified flight instructor and his dual student were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The local instructional flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
The certified flight instructor reported that he and his student were practicing touch and go landings at several airports within the local flying area. He said a hard landing occurred at the Windham Airport, but he did not think the airplane sustained substantial damage. The certified flight instructor stated that upon termination of the flight, he noticed the airplane had sustained damaged and reported it to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
An inspection of the airplane by a FAA Safety Inspector revealed the airplane's wings, wheel wells, and "bottom false spar cap" sustained damaged.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N30DW
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28R-200
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28R-7135229
- Airframe hours
- 3,319
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-C1C, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Phillip Baribault
- Registered owner
- Philip Baribault
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport; Standard, Normal; Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 1, 1993 · 39 hours before
- Departed
- HFD · Hartford, CT
- Destination
- HFD · CT
- Airport
- IJD · Windham Airport, runway 27, 4,278 × 100 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
- 49
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Student, Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 4,000 total · 50 in this make and model · 3,750 as pilot in command · 75 in the last 90 days · 45 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.