Piper PA-22-150 N3854P

Summary

On 14 January 2001 at about 00:30 local time, a Piper PA-22-150 registered N3854P was involved in an accident near Atwater, California, 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

14 January 2001 at 00:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Atwater, California, United States

Nearest airport

Castle (MER)

Coordinates

37.3806, -120.5681

Aircraft

Piper PA-22-150

Registration

N3854P

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Atwater → Atwater

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX01LA077

Nobody was injured.

The student's failure to maintain directional control while landing in a crosswind, his improper compensation for wind conditions, and the flight instructor's inadequate flight supervision.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During an instructional flight, the pilot handling the flight controls ground looped his airplane while landing on runway 31. Prior to the accident, the pilot had successfully performed a series of takeoffs and 3-point landings under the supervision of his flight instructor. However, a wind gust was encountered during the pilot's last landing. The pilot indicated that he was unable to maintain directional control, the airplane veered left, the right main landing gear collapsed, and the right wing contacted the runway surface and broke. The flight instructor indicated that, at the time, the wind was from the southwest at 10 knots, with 15-knot gusts. The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate and had about 5,000 hours of flight time, but only about 2 hours in his recently purchased tail wheel equipped airplane. The flight instructor, whom the pilot hired to check him out, had 3,469.7 hours of flight time. However, his flying experience in the accident airplane was 5 hours. Runway 31 is 11,802 feet long and 300 feet wide.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.