- Date
- April 20, 1991, 16:15 local (21:15 UTC)
- Place
- Grayslake, IL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Uncontrolled descent
- Aircraft
- N4VTPiper PA-28-161
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 31, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910420011769A
- Case key
- 15047
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 instructor's inadequate compensation for wind conditions. Factors were the wind gusts and the instructor's failure to maintain airspeed.
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 student pilot and instructor pilot were landing in gusty wind conditions. On short final the aircraft began to sink, and additional power application did not arrest the descent. The aircraft touched down short of the runway and impacted a wood pile.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4VT
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-161
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-8616015
- Airframe hours
- 3,081
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D3G, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Cardinal Aircraft, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Cardinal Aircraft, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Unknown · February 15, 1991 · 89 hours before
- Airport
- C81 · Campbell, runway 6, 3,550 × 40 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
- 37
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 2,100 total · 900 in this make and model · 1,500 as pilot in command · 300 in the last 90 days · 90 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 30° at 15 knots, gusting 22
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 6,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- UGN, 10 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.