- Date
- September 26, 2022, 22:00 UTC
- Place
- Clearwater, FL · airport
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1434TPiper PA-28R-200
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: 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
- Case key
- 106142
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 hard landing. Contributing to the accident was the flight instructor’s delayed remedial action.
Findings · 4
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 flight instructor, at the conclusion of the checkout flight he and the pilot were returning to the airport for landing. The instructor described that the pilot’s approach was stable until he began the landing flare too high, at an estimated altitude of about 20 feet. The flight instructor told the pilot to execute a go-around and then attempted to take over the flight controls. He was unable to recover before the airplane landed hard, resulting in substantial damage to both wings. The flight instructor stated that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1434T
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28R-200
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28R-7235288
- Built
- 1972
- Airframe hours
- 5,463.91
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-C1C, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Tampa Bay Aviation Inc, doing business as Tampa Bay Aviation Inc
- Registered owner
- Strickland Jason
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 27, 2022
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- CLW · Clearwater Air Park, runway 34, 4,108 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic primary flight display, ADS-B, Auto-pilot
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 51
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Private, Sport Pilot
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 529 total · 168 in this make and model
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 28
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 2, 2021
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 1,050 total · 61 in this make and model · 950 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 40° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 8,500 ft broken
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.05 inHg
- Observed at
- CLW
- METAR
- KCLW 022255Z AUTO 04008KT 10SM SCT050 BKN085 28/21 A3005 RMK AO2
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 11, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.9 MB in all.
Other investigations on N1434T · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.