- Date
- March 23, 1992, 11:50 local (16:50 UTC)
- Place
- Lafayette, IN
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2959RPiper PA-28-161
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 23, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920323007359A
- Case key
- 15415
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 student pilot's failure to maintain directional control and his delaying the aborted landing.
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
A student pilot on his first solo drifted left, off the runway after landing. Nearing a treeline, the airplane lifted airborne with the nose pitched up. The airplane remained nose high and rolled to 60 degrees left bank before striking the trees and falling to ground.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2959R
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-161
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 287916586
- Airframe hours
- 4,720
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Purdue Pilots, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Purdue Pilots, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · February 7, 1992 · 69 hours before
- Airport
- 3AR · Aretz, runway 25, 2,812 × 50 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
- 22
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 13 total · 13 in this make and model · 13 in the last 90 days · 8 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 310° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 39 °F, dew point 21 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- LAF, 5 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.