- Date
- September 21, 2012, 19:50 local (23:50 UTC)
- Place
- Berlin, NJ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7290WPiper PA-28-180
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report December 19, 2012
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20120921019719A
- Case key
- 85116
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 failure to maintain directional control during landing.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot was attempting to land at the destination airport after a cross-country flight at night. During landing, the airplane touched down, and when the pilot applied the brakes, the airplane began to skid. The airplane then departed the left side of the runway, and as the pilot attempted to regain directional control of the airplane, it veered back onto the runway off the right side. With about 75 feet of the 3,000-foot-long runway remaining, the pilot elected to turn the airplane left in an attempt to reverse its direction. Before the turn could be completed, the airplane struck the airport perimeter fence, resulting in substantial damage to both wings. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation, and a postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no anomalies with either the flight controls or the brakes.
Factual narrative
The pilot was attempting to land at the destination airport after a cross-country flight at night. During landing, the airplane touched down and when the pilot applied the brakes, the airplane began to skid. The airplane then departed the left side of the runway and as the pilot attempted to regain directional control of the airplane, it veered back onto the runway off the right side. With about 75 feet of the 3,000-foot long runway remaining, the pilot elected to turn the airplane left, in an attempt to reverse its direction. Before the turn could be completed, the airplane struck the airport perimeter fence, resulting in substantial damage to both wings. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane and a postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no anomalies with either the flight controls or the brakes.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7290W
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-1148
- Airframe hours
- 7,600
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Salisbury Airplane Associates Inc
- Registered owner
- Salisbury Airplane Associates Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 4, 2012 · 13 hours before
- Departed
- SBY · Salisbury, MD
- Destination
- 19N · Berlin, NJ
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- 19N · Camden County Airport, runway 05, 3,094 × 45 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
- 69
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 5, 2011
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 526 total · 24 in this make and model · 328 as pilot in command · 7 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 140° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.03 inHg
- Observed at
- VAY, 11 nm away
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 19, 2012, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.4 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.