- Date
- April 3, 1993, 16:45 local (23:45 UTC)
- Place
- Buckeye, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N30503Piper J3
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 30, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19930403007879A
- Case key
- 28360
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 visual look-out and failure to maintain clearance from the wires. Lack of experience in the geographical (airport) area was a factor.
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 noncertificated solo student pilot was landing at an unfamiliar airport. While on final approach, the student pilot failed to see the wires that traversed the final approach course. The airplane's vertical stabilizer struck the wires.
Factual narrative
On April 3, 1993, at about 1645 hours mountain standard time, a Piper J3, N30503, collided with some wires while on final approach to a privately owned dirt airstrip about 7 miles west of Buckeye, Arizona. The noncertificated student pilot was conducting a visual flight rules local solo instructional flight. The airplane, operated by the student pilot, sustained substantial damage. The student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated at the student pilot's privately owned airstrip at Rainbow Valley, Arizona, at about 1600 hours.
The student pilot reported in a telephone interview conducted on April l5, 1993, that the accident flight was the first time he had attempted to land at the privately owned dirt airstrip. While on final approach to the south, he failed to see the unmarked wires that traverse the final approach course from the east to the west.
The student pilot reiterated the sequence of events stated during the telephone interview in the Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report, NTSB Form 6120.1/2. He added, however, that the airplane's vertical stabilizer struck the wires and that there was a post-crash fire.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N30503
- Reported as
- Piper J3
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 4880
- Engine
- Continental C-85, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Thomas De Jong
- Registered owner
- Arie De Jong
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- Rainbow Valley, AZ
- Airport
- Private, runway 18, dirt
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
- 35
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Rear
- Flight hours
- 48 total · 33 in this make and model · 32 as pilot in command · 35 in the last 90 days · 30 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 60 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.