Cessna 182 N182PJ

Summary

On 21 May 2014 at about 12:10 local time, a Cessna 182 registered N182PJ was involved in an accident near Elkton, Maryland, United States. 3 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

21 May 2014 at 12:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Elkton, Maryland, United States

Nearest airport

Cecil County Airport (58M)

Coordinates

39.5742, -75.8697

Aircraft

Cessna 182

Registration

N182PJ

Category

Airplane

Year built

1998

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Selinsgrove → Jacksonville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA14LA252

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s failure to attain the proper touchdown point during a no-flap landing to a wet, down-sloping runway, and the airplane's dynamic hydroplaning after touchdown, which resulted in a runway overrun. Contributing to the accident was a total loss of electrical power due to an alternator failure.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airline transport pilot was conducting a personal cross-country flight in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) when the airplane experienced a total electrical failure. The pilot elected to divert to a nearby airport, which had a 2,989-ft-long runway. After reporting the airport in sight, the pilot attempted a no-flap landing; however, the pilot reported that the brakes were ineffective, and he was unable to stop the airplane on the wet, down-sloping runway. He pulled the emergency (parking) brake handle and intentionally turned off the runway in an attempt to use an access road as additional distance to stop. The airplane subsequently struck a fence and other obstructions before it came to rest. During a postaccident phone call to the air traffic control facility that was handling the flight, the pilot stated the airplane landed "without brakes," "without flaps," and that they "landed long on the runway." Examination of the airplane's electrical system revealed that the alternator provided no output because the negative (ground) field brush was completely worn down to the braided lead, which became severed. The pilot should have received cockpit indications from the ammeter and from the low voltage warning light before the complete loss of electrical power. The pilot stated that despite "aggressive" application of brakes upon touchdown, the airplane would not slow down. It is possible that the airplane entered a state of dynamic hydroplaning on the wet runway, which would have rendered the brakes ineffective. Both the wet runway and lack of flaps on landing are factors which can significantly increase an airplane's landing distance. Given these conditions, the pilot should have more precisely controlled the airplane's descent angle throughout the approach in order to touch down within the shortest possible distance. It is likely that the decreased runway length available for landing, combined with dynamic hydroplaning due to the wet runway, resulted in the pilot's inability to stop the airplane on the runway.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.