- Date
- February 22, 1992, 18:45 local (23:45 UTC)
- Place
- Fredericksburg, VA
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2921GPiper PA-32-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report August 13, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 37129
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 maintain the proper glide path. Factors related to the accident were delayed remedial action by the pilot and night conditions.
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 was making an approach at night on runway 23 which is 2999 feet long, 100 feet wide and has terrain that slopes down at the approach end. The airplane landed 45 feet short, the landing gear was torn off, and the airplane came to rest on the runway. The pilot and the pilot rated passenger both said the engine failed to respond to application of the throttle. When interviewed, the pilot told the FAA he recognized he was going to land short when approximately 250 feet AGL, however, application of power was not made until just prior to touchdown. The engine was test run while still attached to the airframe. The tests included acceleration tests and the engine responded satisfactorily.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2921G
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32-7940202
- Airframe hours
- 1,995
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Dettinger Aviation
- Registered owner
- Rcg Aviation Partnership
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · February 4, 1992 · 17 hours before
- Departed
- LVL · Lawrenceville, VA
- Airport
- EZF · Shannon, runway 23, 2,999 × 100 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
- 62
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,457 total · 1,050 in this make and model · 27 in the last 90 days · 9 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 210° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- EZF, 1 nm away