- Date
- October 10, 2020, 13:30 local (18:30 UTC)
- Place
- Kimberling City, MO
- Injuries
- 2 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N3445QPiper PA32R
- Defining event
- Approach: Collision during takeoff/land
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20201010015059A
- Case key
- 102133
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 inadequate preflight inspection, which resulted in his inadvertent departure with the tow bar connected to the nose wheel, and the low approach while returning to the airport, which allowed the tow bar to contact trees.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot reported that he moved the airplane out of the hangar using a tow bar and his personal vehicle. The pilot added that he did not remove the tow bar from the airplane. The pilot and passenger then departed on a cross-country flight. Witnesses at the airport notified the pilot by radio that the tow bar was still attached. The plot then entered the traffic pattern to land at the airport. During the approach the tow bar, which was hanging from the airplane’s nose wheel, impacted and got entangled in trees. The airplane then impacted ground objects and terrain. A post-crash fire ensued and destroyed the airplane. The pilot added that he did not know why he got so low on the approach to the airport.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3445Q
- Reported as
- Piper PA32R
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32R-7780312
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Kenneth Best
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Airport
- MO64 · Kimberling Airport
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
- 73
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Seat
- Left
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 150° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 75 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.21 inHg
- Observed at
- KFWB, 6 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 24, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.1 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.