Piper PA-34-200T N930DE

Summary

On 19 March 2003 at about 02:10 local time, a Piper PA-34-200T registered N930DE was involved in an accident near West Chicago, Illinois, 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

19 March 2003 at 02:10

Classification

Accident

Location

West Chicago, Illinois, United States

Nearest airport

DuPage Airport (DPA)

Coordinates

41.9078, -88.2486

Aircraft

Piper PA-34-200T

Registration

N930DE

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Positioning

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Chicago → West Chicago

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

CHI03LA085

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's improper flare resulting in a hard landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane sustained substantial damage during a hard landing at night. The pilot reported, "Because it was windy I flew at 100 kt on final, and on touchdown I felt that the nose was too low. I pulled back on the elevator and the nose came up, and then I lowered the nose again and again it was too low. I stopped the engines with the mixture and the plane stopped, nose down." Inspection of the airplane revealed that the nose gear was collapsed. The nose gear support tube was pushed vertically up through the top of the airframe about 6 inches. The center windshield airframe post was pushed up, and the left and right windshields were separated from the cockpit's windshield frame. All three blade tips on both propellers were bent aft and exhibited chordwise gouging and scraping.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.