Piper PA-32-300 N8954N

Summary

On 10 January 2000 at about 00:45 local time, a Piper PA-32-300 registered N8954N, operated by Eagle Air Service, Ltd., was involved in an accident near Sweeney, Texas, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

10 January 2000 at 00:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Sweeney, Texas, United States

Coordinates

29.0405, -95.6890

Aircraft

Piper PA-32-300

Registration

N8954N

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Eagle Air Service, Ltd.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Angleton → Bay City

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

FTW00LA059

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's excessive flare resulting in a hard landing. Factors were the loss of engine power for undetermined reasons, the power lines on final approach and the dark night conditions.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane was in level cruise flight during dark night conditions when the 'engine stopped.' The instructor elected to make a forced landing to a field. On final approach, the instructor noticed what appeared to be power lines. The instructor banked the airplane to parallel the power lines and rotated the airplane to a nose high pitch attitude for touchdown. The touchdown was made on both main wheels; however, 'the nose of the aircraft came down hard,' and the airplane skidded to a stop. An FAA inspector supervised a 35-minute test run of the engine and found no anomalies.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.