- Date
- November 4, 2023, 14:20 local (19:20 UTC)
- Place
- Tompkinsville, KY
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4056ZPiper PA18
- 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
- FAA report
- 20231104019059A
- Case key
- 193382
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 adequate airspeed during the approach, which resulted in a hard 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
The pilot was practicing an emergency descent and landing when he deployed full wing flaps and descended to the touchdown point. About 10 to 15 ft above ground level, the airplane encountered a rapid sink rate that he failed to arrest. The airplane touched down hard, and the fuselage was substantially damaged. The pilot stated that, upon reflection, if he had added the power and extended the airplane’s glide path, he might have been in a better position for landing; however, he allowed the airplane to get “too slow.” The pilot reported no mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4056Z
- Reported as
- Piper PA18 (150)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-8064
- Built
- 1963
- Airframe hours
- 9,244
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2B, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- G & L Airborne Inc
- Registered owner
- G & L Airborne Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 2, 2023 · 0.3 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- TZV · Tompkinsville/Monroe County, runway 22, 4,000 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic flight bag or handheld device
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
- 656
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- BasicMed, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 2, 2023
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 3,506 total · 65 in this make and model · 3,307 as pilot in command · 13 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 9 knots, gusting 17
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.16 inHg
- Turbulence
- Unknown
- Observed at
- GLW, 23 nm away
- METAR
- KGLW 041915Z AUTO 24009G17KT 10SM CLR 21/06 A3016 RMK AO2 T02110061
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 4, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 39.3 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.
Other investigations on N4056Z · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.