- Date
- July 15, 1994, 12:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Easton, WA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1540APiper PA-20
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 26, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19940715018589A
- Case key
- 41976
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. Factors include soft, uneven terrain.
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 tailwheel equipped PA-20 experienced a main gear collapse after the pilot lost directional control during the landing roll on the soft, uneven turf runway.
Factual narrative
On July 15, 1994, at 1200 Pacific daylight time (PDT), a tailwheel equipped Piper PA-20, N1540A, experienced a gear collapse during the landing roll at Easton State Airstrip, Easton, Washington. The airline transport rated pilot and his passenger were not injured, but the aircraft sustained substantial damage. The personal pleasure flight, which departed Wenatchee, Washington about 1045, was operating 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.
The pilot, who had diverted into this remote airstrip in order to wait for weather to improve at his planned destination, said that he lost directional control during the landing roll on the soft, uneven turf runway.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1540A
- Reported as
- Piper PA-20
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 20-748
- Airframe hours
- 3,231
- Engine
- Lycoming O-290-D-2, 135 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Whitney, Tim B.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 10, 1994 · 17 hours before
- Departed
- EAT · Wenatchee, WA
- Destination
- BFI · Seattle, WA
- Airport
- ESW · Easton State, runway 27, 2,640 × 100 ft, grass/turf
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
- 51
- Certificates
- Flight engineer, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 8,962 total · 57 in this make and model · 8,233 as pilot in command · 189 in the last 90 days · 61 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F
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 N1540A · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.