- Date
- April 17, 2015, 14:20 local (20:20 UTC)
- Place
- Deer Lodge, MT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7374WPiper PA 28-180
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 8, 2015
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- Case key
- 91081
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 inadequate recovery from a bounced landing, resulting in a loss of control and collision with terrain.
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 reported that during the landing flare he began to porpoise, on the second porpoise he encountered what he believed was a crosswind. He added full power to abort the landing, and subsequently the airplane impacted a ditch, which resulted in the right landing gear and nose wheel being separated from the airplane and substantial damage to the firewall. The pilot reported there were no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that during the landing flare he began to porpoise, on the second porpoise he encountered what he believed was a crosswind. He added full power to abort the landing, and subsequently the airplane impacted a ditch, which resulted in the right landing gear and nose wheel being separated from the airplane and substantial damage to the firewall. The pilot reported there were no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7374W
- Reported as
- Piper PA 28-180 (180)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-1256
- Built
- 1963
- Airframe hours
- 2,459
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360 A3A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Novak James F
- Registered owner
- Novak James F
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 1, 2014
- Departed
- 3U3 · Anaconda, MT
- Destination
- 38S · Deer Lodge, MT
- Airport
- 38S · Deer Lodge-City-County, runway 31, 5,800 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Handheld GPS
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
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- February 20, 2015
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 400 total · 270 in this make and model · 400 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 59 °F, dew point 21 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.12 inHg
- Observed at
- KBTM, 27 nm away
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 30, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.3 MB in all.