- Date
- July 18, 2020, 12:30 local (16:30 UTC)
- Place
- Linconville, ME
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4365MPiper PA 12
- Defining event
- Landing: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200718018839A
- Case key
- 101710
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 improper landing flare, which resulted in a bounced landing and subsequent main landing gear collapse.
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
At the conclusion of a local flight with stops at several airports, the pilot was returning to the private grass runway. The pilot described that the final approach to the runway was “too fast,” and that when the airplane touched down on the soft turf it bounced. When the airplane touched down a second time, the landing gear collapsed. The fuselage was substantially damaged. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4365M
- Reported as
- Piper PA 12 (No Series)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 12-3303
- Built
- 1947
- Airframe hours
- 15
- Engine
- Lycoming O290-0-2, 135 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 3, 2019
- Departed
- RKD · Rockland, ME
- Destination
- PVT · Linconville, ME
- Airport
- PVT · Private, runway UNKN, 1,700 × 200 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- None
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
- 75
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 562 total · 36 in this make and model · 3 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 15, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.6 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.