- Date
- August 11, 2014, 13:52 local (17:52 UTC)
- Place
- Gainesville, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N178SBPiper PA 34-200T
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 13, 2014
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20140811018609A
- Case key
- 89953
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 inadequate landing flare, which resulted in a bounced 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
According to the pilot, due to thunderstorms along his route of flight he elected to divert to a nearby airport. During landing, the aircraft nose landing gear contacted the runway and the airplane "bounced," which resulted in substantial damage to the forward bulkhead and the windshield center post. According to a Federal Aviation Administration inspector, the pilot had originally been cleared for an approach to one runway and subsequently performed a go-around due to being above a "normal" glidepath. The flight was then cleared to land on a crossing runway, at the tower controlled airport, entered final for the crossing runway, and upon landing the airplane porposied three times before coming to rest. According to the pilot, there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or abnormalities that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
According to the pilot, due to thunderstorms along his route of flight he elected to divert to a nearby airport. During landing, the aircraft nose landing gear contacted the runway and the airplane "bounced," which resulted in substantial damage to the forward bulkhead and the windshield center post. According to a Federal Aviation Administration inspector, the pilot had originally been cleared for an approach to one runway and subsequently performed a go-around due to being above a "normal" glidepath. The flight was then cleared to land on a crossing runway, at the tower controlled airport, entered final for the crossing runway, and upon landing the airplane porposied three times before coming to rest. According to the pilot, there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or abnormalities that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N178SB
- Reported as
- Piper PA 34-200T (220T)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 34-7870206
- Built
- 1978
- Airframe hours
- 5,700
- Engines
- Cont Motor TSIO-360-EB1A, 200 horsepower, reciprocatingCont Motor LTSIO-360-EB1, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 20, 2013 · 41 hours before
- Departed
- DTS · Destin, FL
- Destination
- FMY · Ft. Myers, FL
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- GNV · Gainesville Rgnl, runway 11, 7,504 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Auto-pilot, Stall warning system, Onboard weather
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
- 64
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3
- Last flight review
- May 6, 2013
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 1,697.8 total · 655 in this make and model · 1,445.1 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 4 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 73 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.02 inHg
- Observed at
- KGNV
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 3, 2014, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.7 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.