- Date
- October 22, 1993, 14:45 local (20:45 UTC)
- Place
- Hamilton, MT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N3568MPiper PA-12
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 20, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19931022046419A
- Case key
- 41843
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 recovery from a bounced landing, and failure to maintain directional control of the airplane. Factors related to the accident were: the pilot's improper flare for landing, the resultant porpoise, and the ditch near the side of the runway.
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
A student pilot was making a touch-&-go landing during his first solo flight, when the airplaned touched down firmly & began to porpoise. The student initiated correctiive action to stop the porpoise, but the airplane went off the side of the runway, hit a ditch, & was damaged.
Factual narrative
On October 22, 1993, approximately 1445 mountain daylight time (MDT), a Piper PA-12, N3568M, impacted the terrain during an attempted touch-and-go landing at Ravalli County Airport, Hamilton, Montana. The student pilot, who was the sole occupant of the aircraft, was not injured, but the aircraft sustained substantial damage. The solo instructional flight, which was being limited to pattern work, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions at the time of the accident. No flight plan had been filed, and there was no report of an ELT activation.
According to his instructor, the student pilot, who was on his first solo flight, had made one full stop landing just prior to the accident. On the second time around the pattern he planned to make a touch-and-go landing, but the aircraft began "porpoising" after touchdown. During the pilot's attempts to correct for the porpoise, the aircraft departed the side of the runway and impacted a ditch.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3568M
- Reported as
- Piper PA-12
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 12-2504
- Airframe hours
- 4,597
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-C1, 115 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Read, Stanley G.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 8, 1993 · 90 hours before
- Departed
- 6S5
- Destination
- 6S5
- Airport
- 6S5 · Ravalli County, runway 34, 4,200 × 75 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
- 43
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 17 total · 14 in this make and model · 1 as pilot in command · 17 in the last 90 days · 9 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.