- Date
- January 20, 2025, 12:50 local (18:50 UTC)
- Place
- Mount Vernon, IL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8997WPiper PA-28-235
- Defining event
- Landing: Abnormal runway contact
- 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
- Federal Aviation Administration, Springfield FSDO
- FAA report
- 20250120000339A
- Case key
- 199582
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 improper landing flare and subsequent improper recovery from a bounced landing, which resulted in a collision with terrain.
Findings · 2
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 stated that during a landing attempt at the destination airport, she flared the airplane too early, and the airplane bounced. While the airplane became airborne from the bounce, she overcorrected, and the airplane yawed right. The airplane right wing tip then struck an ice bank along the right side of the runway. The pilot overcorrected to the left, and the airplane impacted a snow/ice bank on the left side of the runway and came to rest. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and an engine mount. The pilot stated there was no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8997W
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-235
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-10579
- Built
- 1964
- Airframe hours
- 1,963
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-B4B5, 235 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 10, 2024
- Departed
- SAR · Sparta, IL
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- MVN · Mount Vernon Airport, runway 23, 6,496 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS, Electronic primary flight display, Stall warning system, ADS-B, Auto-pilot, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Electronic multifunction display
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
- 18
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 24, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 119 total · 26 in this make and model · 20 as pilot in command · 12 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 6 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 16 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.62 inHg
- Observed at
- MVN
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 6, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.2 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.