- Date
- October 28, 1993, 13:20 local (17:20 UTC)
- Place
- Greenland, NH
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N24524Piper J3
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 2, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 38712
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 improper landing flare which resulted in a hard landing.
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 airplane landed hard, collapsing the main gear. According to the pilot, 'I was in line with intended touch down point, wings level, carburetor heat on, power off (idle), trimmed for three point landing. Just before the flare point, I felt the loss of lift and increase in sink rate. Adding power and other control input had no effect. The main gear contacted the ground, broke, and spread. The bottom of the fuselage contacted the ground and we slid on it for 20 or 30 feet, then flipped over.' The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions.
Factual narrative
On October 28, 1993, about 1320 eastern daylight time, a Piper J3-C65, N24524, piloted by Mr. Richard G. Robinson, nosed over after landing at a private airstrip near Greenland, New Hampshire. The airplane was substantially damaged. The 2 pilots were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed. The flight was being conducted under 14 CFR 91.
The pilot had landed the airplane on a grass runway and touched down hard on the main landing gear. The gear collapsed, and the airplane nosed over.
According to the pilot's statement on the NTSB Form 6120.1/2:
Just before the flare point I felt the loss of lift and increase in sink rate. Adding power and other control in-puts had no effect. The main gear contacted the ground, broke and spread...[the airplane] skidded on [the ground] for 20 or 30 feet then flipped over.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N24524
- Reported as
- Piper J3
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 3266
- Airframe hours
- 1,942
- Engine
- Continental A65, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Hampton Airfield Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 25, 1993 · 71 hours before
- Departed
- 7B3 · Hampton, NH
- Airport
- NONE · Sanderson'S Field, runway 8, 3,000 × 200 ft, grass/turf
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 59
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Rear
- Flight hours
- 600 total · 150 in this make and model · 10 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 60° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F