- Date
- June 6, 2019, 11:02 local (15:02 UTC)
- Place
- Westminster, MD
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9476RPiper PA28
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 3
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20190606005999A
- Case key
- 99614
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 recovery from a bounced landing, which resulted in a runway excursion.
Findings · 3
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 student pilot was conducting a solo flight during which he was practicing full-stop landings. During his third landing, the nosewheel bounced. He added power to regain control of the airplane, but the airplane veered off the left side of the runway and continued down an embankment before coming to a stop. Examination of the airplane revealed buckling of the firewall and engine mount. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane. The accident is consistent with the pilot’s loss of directional control during his attempted recovery from a bounced landing.
Factual narrative
On June 6, 2019, at 1102 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA28-161, N9476R, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Westminster, Maryland. The student pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight. According to the student pilot, he was practicing full-stop landings when the accident occurred. He said that, during the first full-stop landing, the airplane's nosewheel bounced during the landing roll. The second landing was normal, but, during the third landing, the nosewheel bounced and he "added power" to regain control of the airplane. The airplane veered off the left side of the runway and continued down an embankment before coming to a stop. Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed substantial damage to the firewall and engine mount. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane before the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9476R
- Reported as
- Piper PA28 (161)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-7816649
- Built
- 1978
- Airframe hours
- 9,780
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320 SERIES, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 10, 2018
- Departed
- GAI · Gaithersburg, MD
- Destination
- DMW · Westminster, MD
- Airport
- DMW · Carroll County Rgnl/Jack B Poa, runway 34, 5,100 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B
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
- 49
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 23 total · 22 in this make and model · 23 in the last 90 days · 14 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 300° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.80 inHg
- Observed at
- KDMW
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 3, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.2 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.