- Date
- September 19, 1998, 14:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Whidbey Airpark, WA
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N33321Piper PA-28-180
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 11, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19980919034539A
- Case key
- 45106
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 misjudged her altitude and airspeed. Factors include a wet runway surface and high vegetation off the end 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
After arriving in the vicinity of the airport, the pilot canceled her IFR flight plan and proceeded VFR. While on final approach to the 2,400 foot wet runway, the pilot allowed her airspeed to become excessive, and after touchdown, she was unable to stop the aircraft in the remaining distance. After departing the runway, the aircraft impacted high vegetation and a thick berry briar.
Factual narrative
On September 19, 1998, approximately 1400 Pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-28-180, N33321, went off the end of the runway and collided with high vegetation at Whidbey Airpark, near Langley, Washington. The commercial pilot and her two passengers were not injured, but the aircraft, which was owned and operated by the pilot, sustained substantial damage. The 14 CFR Part 91 personal pleasure flight, which departed Eugene, Oregon about 1000, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions at the time of the accident. While en route, the pilot had been on an IFR flight plan, and there was no report of an ELT activation.
According to the pilot, who had canceled her IFR clearance upon arriving in the vicinity of Whidbey Island, she landed too fast on the 2,400 foot wet runway, and was unable to stop prior to reaching the end. After the aircraft departed the runway, it collided with heavy brush and a dense berry briar.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N33321
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-7505133
- Airframe hours
- 4,330
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Marikay And Paul Lindstrom
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 6, 1998 · 13 hours before
- Departed
- EUG · Eugene, OR
- Destination
- WA31
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- WA31 · Whidbey Airpark, runway 34, 2,400 × 25 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
- 60
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,245 total · 2,140 in this make and model · 2,026 as pilot in command · 45 in the last 90 days · 19 in the last 30 days · 8 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 57 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.