- Date
- January 14, 1989, 12:15 local (18:15 UTC)
- Place
- Valparaiso, IN
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N3331RPiper PA-28-180
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 22, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890114000739A
- Case key
- 14323
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
Inadequate preflight preparation by the pilot, which resulted in inadvertent flight in icing conditions and rapid accumulation of airframe ice, and the pilot's failure to maintain sufficient airspeed to flare during the landing. Factors related to the accident were: adverse weather conditions and the pilot's lack of visual perception with ice on the windshield.
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
No preflight wx briefing was obtained before the flt. During climb-out, the plt heard about icing conditions at a nearby airport & elected to return & land. Before landing, he encountered freezing rain & a rapid accumulation of ice on the acft. Ice on the windshield restricted the plt's forward visibility, requiring him to use the side windows. During the flare to land, he raised the nose of the acft to arrest a sink rate, but the acft landed hard, collapsing the right main gear.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3331R
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-5661
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Single Wings, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 1, 1988 · 7 hours before
- Departed
- VPZ
- Airport
- VP2 · Porter County, runway 9, 6,000 × 150 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
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 127 total · 21 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 28 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N3331R · 4
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.