- Date
- December 27, 1991, 13:50 local (21:50 UTC)
- Place
- Carson City, NV
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9GFPiper PA46-310P
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 27, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19911227059149A
- Case key
- 27529
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 failure of the pilot to arrest an excessive sink rate resulting in not attaining the proper touch down point and landing short of the runway threshold. Contributing to the accident was an excessive runway end lip due to inadequate runway end maintenance.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The certificated private pilot, the sole occupant, was landing after conducting touch and go takeoffs and landings. During the final landing approach, the pilot failed to arrest the excessive sink and the airplane touched down about 12 inches short of the paved end of the runway. The paved runway was about 6 inches above the surrounding unpaved area. When the right landing gear struck the lip of the runway, the strut was bent aft about 20 degrees and the right wing received structural damage. The FAA advisory circular recommends that the runway lip distance to the surrounding runway safety area is 1 and 1/2 inches for drainage, with a maximum recommended distance of 3 inches. The airport personnel failed to maintain these recommended distances.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9GF
- Reported as
- Piper PA46-310P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 4608127
- Airframe hours
- 462
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-520-BE, 310 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Ferdon, Arnold G.
- Registered owner
- Measurement & Control Tech
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 13, 1991 · 4 hours before
- Departed
- NV11 · Dayton, NV
- Airport
- O04 · Carson City, runway 27, 5,900 × 75 ft, asphalt
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
- 60
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,000 total · 5 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- RNO, 19 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.