Piper PA-32RT-300 N3015L

Summary

On 7 April 2005 at about 18:19 local time, a Piper PA-32RT-300 registered N3015L was involved in an accident near Broomfield, Colorado, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

7 April 2005 at 18:19

Classification

Accident

Location

Broomfield, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Jeffco (BJC)

Coordinates

39.9083, -105.1167

Aircraft

Piper PA-32RT-300

Registration

N3015L

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Broomfield → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DEN05FA066

1 person died.

the pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control during landing. Contributing factor's included the quartering tailwind, and the pilot's inadequate in-flight decision making.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

There were several witnesses who observed the airplane. One witness stated that the airplane appeared to overshoot the runway and turn back. Another witness reported the wings rocking back and forth. The controller cleared the accident airplane to "make short approach runway two niner right cleared to land." The pilot of the accident airplane acknowledged the clearance to land. A review of an airport surveillance video depicted that the airplane impacted the runway in a left wing low attitude. The left main landing gear collapsed followed by the nose and right main landing gear. The airplane departed the right side of the runway, slid sideways on its belly, impacted a runway/taxiway sign, and a postimpact fire ensued, destroying the airplane. At 1225, the automated surface observation system (ASOS), reported, wind, 140 degrees at 7 knots. According to the Automated Terminal Information Service (ATIS), Quebec was the current information prior to the accident. The recording reflected the wind as 160 degrees at 7 knots. A Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) system reflected the winds from 110 degrees at 6 knots, with occasional small gusts to 11 knots. During the scan at the time of the accident, a small gust of 11 knots appears over the landing threshold. The winds in the touchdown zone at the time of the accident appear to be around 6 knots. The winds recorded from 1.5 hours prior to the accident varied from 120 degrees to 140 degrees from 3 to 5 knots with gusts to 11 knots. According to the Lidar data and the METAR, the wind varied from a direct tail wind at 6 to 11 knots to a 60 degree quartering tailwind from the left at 7 knots; the tailwind component was calculated to be approximately 4 knots and the crosswind was calculated to be approximately 6 knots.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.