- Date
- March 12, 1993, 15:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Burley, ID
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2438LPiper PA-38
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 3, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19930312005059A
- Case key
- 42998
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
Landing on the wrong runway and an improper touchdown. Lack of total experience in type of operation 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 student pilot, who was on her first solo cross country flight, became confused about runway identification nomenclature, and landed on runway 20 instead of runway 02. In her attempt to land with a 18 to 20 knot tailwind, the aircraft landed hard on the nose wheel, and the nose wheel broke off.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2438L
- Reported as
- Piper PA-38
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 38-79A0703
- Airframe hours
- 4,142
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 112 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Aero Technicians Inc.
- Registered owner
- Aero Technicians Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 20, 1992 · 35 hours before
- Departed
- PIH · Pocatello, ID
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- BYI · Burley Municipal Airport, runway 20, 4,100 × 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
- 28
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 22 total · 22 in this make and model · 3 as pilot in command · 17.8 in the last 90 days · 2.5 in the last 30 days · 1.1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 40° at 18 knots, gusting 22
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 10,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 25 °F, dew point 16 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BYI, 1 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.
Other investigations on N2438L · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.