- Date
- June 16, 2017, 13:30 local (17:30 UTC)
- Place
- Cedar Key, FL
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4317YPiper PA23
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Landing area overshoot
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 17, 2017
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20170616008369A
- Case key
- 95390
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 stop the airplane within the available runway after conducting the approach and landing with a tailwind.
Findings · 5
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 reported that the takeoff, climb, and en route portions of the cross-country flight were uneventful. He checked the wind sock before landing, and it was "flaccid," indicating calm wind. He slowed the airplane to 80 mph on final approach and landed near the approach end of the runway, which was 2,355 ft long. He estimated that the airplane should have rolled to a stop; however, it continued down the runway despite heavy braking. The airplane departed the end of the runway, traveled across a small road and down an embankment, and came to rest in water at the edge of the airport boundary. A Federal Aviation Administration inspector examined the wreckage and reported that the airplane sustained substantial damage to the forward fuselage and submersion in salt water. There were tire skid marks on the runway leading to the wreckage. A weather buoy, located about 1 mile east of the airport, recorded wind from the west about the time of the accident, which would have resulted in a tailwind of up to 8 knots. The pilot reported there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that the takeoff, climb, and en route portions of the cross-country flight were uneventful. He checked the wind sock prior to landing and it was "flaccid," indicating calm wind. He slowed the airplane to 80 mph on final approach and landed near the approach end of runway 5, which was 2,355 feet-long. He estimated that the airplane should have rolled to a stop; however, it continued down the runway despite heavy braking. The airplane departed the end of the runway, traveled across a small road, and down an embankment, coming to rest in the water at the edge of the airport boundary.A Federal Aviation Administration inspector examined the wreckage and reported that the airplane sustained substantial damage to the forward fuselage and submersion in salt water. There were tire skid marks on the runway leading to the wreckage. A weather buoy, located about 1 mile east of the airport, recorded wind out of the west about the time of the accident, which would have resulted in a tail wind of up to 8 knots. The pilot reported there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4317Y
- Reported as
- Piper PA23 (160)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 23-2041
- Built
- 1962
- Airframe hours
- 3,291
- Engines
- Lycoming O-320-B3B, 160 horsepower, reciprocatingLycoming O-320-B3B, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 7, 2017
- Departed
- CCO · Newnan, GA
- Destination
- CDK · Cedar Key, FL
- Airport
- CDK · George T Lewis, runway 05, 2,355 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Auto-pilot, Stall warning system
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
- 72
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Recreational, Flight instructor, Airline transport, Flight engineer
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Last flight review
- January 31, 2017
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 24,000 total · 200 in this make and model · 11,000 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,700 ft broken
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 73 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.93 inHg
- Observed at
- CTY, 25 nm away
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 21, 2017, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.3 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.