- Date
- May 30, 1993, 15:40 local (19:40 UTC)
- Place
- Indianapolis, IN
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2816APiper PA-28
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 17, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19930530019729A
- Case key
- 9216
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
a misjudged flare and subsequent hard landing by the student pilot. A factor in the accident was the student pilot's failure to perform a go-around.
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 reported a gust of wind caught the airplane during the landing flare, causing the airplane to balloon. She said the airplane subsequently landed hard on the main landing gear and nosewheel and bounced into the air. The airplane bounced on the runway surface two more times before exiting the runway and coming to rest. The pilot said the accident could have been avoided if she had performed a go-around.
Factual narrative
On May 30, 1993, about 1540 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-28- 161, N2816A, sustained substantial damage during a hard landing at the Eagle Creek Airport, Indianapolis, Indiana. The solo student pilot received no injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the instructional flight which operated under 14 CFR Part 91.
The pilot related she was attempting to land on runway 21 when a head wind gust caused the airplane to balloon during the landing flare. The airplane subsequently contacted the runway hard on the main and nosewheel landing gear, bounced into the air and porpoised. The airplane bounced two more times on the runway surface before it veered off the runway and came to rest.
In the Recommendation section of the NTSB Accident Report that the pilot submitted, she wrote that the accident could have been prevented by doing a go around.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2816A
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-7916442
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D3G, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Raf Flight School
- Registered owner
- Miller, Reid
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Provisional (Special); Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 31, 1993 · 120 hours before
- Departed
- HUF · Terre Haute, IN
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- I14 · Eagle Creek, runway 21, 4,200 × 75 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
- 34
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 179 total · 93 in this make and model · 118 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 9 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 11 knots, gusting 21
- Visibility
- 8 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 15,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 66 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- IND, 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.