- Date
- June 17, 1994, 02:15 local (06:15 UTC)
- Place
- Oxford, CT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4093UPiper PA-31-350
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report April 25, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19940617015439A
- Case key
- 8935
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 inadvertent encounter with fog during 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 stated that he was at minimums at the middle marker and had the runway in sight. When the airplane was over the runway and the pilot began to flare, he flew into a fog bank. He began a missed approach, but the airplane touched down, subsequently swerving off the runway and down an embankment.
Factual narrative
On June 16, 1994, at 0210 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-31- 350, N4093U, entered a fog bank during the landing flare over runway 36 at the Waterbury-Oxford Airport in Oxford, Connecticut. The pilot elected to do a missed approach and before the airplane started to climb, it landed hard on the runway. The airplane skidded off the runway and down into a ravine. The pilot was not injured. The airplane was substantially damaged. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed and an Instrument Flight Rules flight plan was filed for the positioning flight. The flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
The pilot stated, "I got down to minimums at the middle marker and had the runway in sight. Over the runway and beginning the flare I flew into a fog bank. I began a missed approach but the next thing I knew I was on the ground. The aircraft began swerving to the right and continued until it was off the runway and down an embankment where it came to rest."
Post-accident examination of the accident area revealed three different black rubber deposit marks just beyond the runway's touchdown zone markers. The three black marks continue to the right of the runway centerline until they departed off the runway into grass. Cut marks on the runway were present following along the same path as the right black mark. Markings on the grass continued through the grass and down an embankment and stopped at the airplane. The airplane came to rest in a ravine about 787 feet away from the initial black markings.
The main gear were still attached to the airplane but were displaced outward from their normal position. Both main gears' lower link assembly side brace were fractured. Optical examinations of the fracture faces revealed features typical of overstress. The nose gear remained attached to the fuselage but was bent to the left.
Post-accident examination of the airframe and engines did not reveal any pre-landing anomalies.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4093U
- Reported as
- Piper PA-31-350
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 8152175
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-J2BD, 350 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- The Plane Broker, doing business as Executive Flight Services
- Registered owner
- The Plane Broker
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- UIZ · Utica, MI
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- OXC · Waterbury-Oxford, runway 36, 5,000 × 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
- 48
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 10,000 total · 2,000 in this make and model · 7,300 as pilot in command · 100 in the last 90 days · 30 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 100 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 77 °F
- Observed at
- OXC
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.