- Date
- June 26, 2004, 12:45 local (16:45 UTC)
- Place
- Saginaw, MI
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N23342Beech 23
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 29, 2004
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA-Grand Rapids-FSDO
- Case key
- 59645
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 compensation for wind conditions, and his inadequate recovery from the bounced landing. The wind gusts and the runway sign were factors.
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 airplane was damaged when it struck a runway sign during landing on runway 27. The pilot reported that while landing, "the plane simply dropped from the sky." He also reported that the airplane bounced and that a gust of wind "caught [him] under the left wing." The airplane subsequently impacted a runway sign and came to rest in the grass adjacent to the runway. The recorded wind was from 270 degrees magnetic at 6 knots gusting to 14 knots.
Factual narrative
On June 26, 2004, about 1245 eastern daylight time, a Beech model 23, N23342, piloted by a private pilot, was substantially damaged when it struck a runway sign during landing on runway 27 (5,000 feet by 100 feet asphalt), at the Saginaw County H. W. Browne Airport, Saginaw, Michigan. The 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight was operating in visual meteorological conditions without a flight plan. No injuries were reported. The flight originated from the Huron County Memorial Airport, Bad Axe, Michigan, about 1145.
The pilot reported that as the airplane approached the runway, he "felt wind push the airplane up. [He] recovered and continued in for landing. Shortly after the plane simply dropped from the sky and bounced off and up. [He] regained control, leveling wings when a sudden gust of wind caught [him] under [the] left wing." The airplane subsequently impacted a runway sign and came to rest in the grass adjacent to the runway.
The recorded wind at 1235 was from 270 degrees magnetic at 6 knots gusting to 14 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N23342
- Reported as
- Beech 23
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- M43
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D2B, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Muskateer Flying Club
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- KBAX · Bad Axe, MI
- Destination
- KHYX · Saginaw, MI
- Airport
- KHYX · Saginaw H W Browne, runway 27
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 56
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- June 16, 2003
- Flight hours
- 186 total · 110 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 6 knots, gusting 14
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.04 inHg
- Observed at
- KHYX