- Date
- April 9, 1997, 14:33 local (18:33 UTC)
- Place
- Stuart, FL
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2HSPiper PA-34-200
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 5, 1997
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19970409046169A
- Case key
- 38257
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 directional control during a crosswind landing. Factors were the crosswind and his improper level off.
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 pilot stated he was landing with a gusty quartering crosswind. He maintained a higher speed to compensate for the gusts, touched down, bounced and the nose gear collided with the runway. Review of weather conditions revealed no recorded record of turbulence, downdrafts, gusts, or windshear.
Factual narrative
On April 9, 1997, about 1433 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-34, N2HS, registered to a private owner, operating as a 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, landed hard at Witham Field, Stuart, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The pilot and two passengers were not injured. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The flight originated from Rock Hill, South Carolina, about 2 hours 48 minutes before the accident.
The pilot stated he was landing with a gusting, quartering crosswind to runway 07. He maintained a higher approach speed to compensate for the gusts. The airplane touched down, bounced and collided with the runway on the nose gear
Review of weather information for the time period of the accident revealed no recorded record of turbulence, downdrafts, gusts, or windshear.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2HS
- Reported as
- Piper PA-34-200
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 34-8070022
- Airframe hours
- 3,236
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-360, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Herbert Spaugh Jr.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 18, 1996 · 72 hours before
- Departed
- 29J · Rock Hill, SC
- Destination
- SUA
- Airport
- SUA · Stuart-Whitman Field, runway 7, 5,000 × 200 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
- 66
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land, Multi-engine sea, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 15,000 total · 2,000 in this make and model · 15,000 as pilot in command · 26 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 40° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MCO, 120 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.