Piper PA-22-150 N5788D

Summary

On 2 July 2016 at about 14:20 local time, a Piper PA-22-150 registered N5788D was involved in an accident near Houghton Lake Heights, Michigan, United States. 4 people were on board and 4 had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

2 July 2016 at 14:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Houghton Lake Heights, Michigan, United States

Nearest airport

Houghton Lake State Airport (5Y2)

Coordinates

44.3292, -84.7917

Aircraft

Piper PA-22-150

Registration

N5788D

Category

Airplane

Year built

1956

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Houghton Lake Heights → Houghton Lake Heights

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN16LA252

4 people had minor injuries.

The pilot's delayed reaction to the variable wind condition, which resulted in an excessive descent rate and the airplane's subsequent collision with a wire fence short of the runway.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot reported that the purpose of the flight was to provide the passengers with an introductory flight in conjunction with an event hosted by a local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association. He stated that there were no mechanical issues or anomalies with the airplane during an earlier flight. After departure, the airplane climbed to 2,500 ft mean sea level, and the pilot completed a local flight before entering the traffic pattern for a full-stop landing on runway 34. The pilot reported that, while on final approach, as the airplane passed over a tree line, it encountered a downdraft and descended below the normal glidepath. As he increased engine power to arrest the airplane's descent, the main landing gear struck a wire fence near the approach end of the runway. The airplane subsequently landed hard on its nose landing gear, which collapsed the nose gear, and skidded to a stop in a nose-down attitude on the runway. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. A postaccident review of available meteorological data established that the surface wind was likely variable from the southwest to northwest at 5 to 8 knots. Although the variable wind condition had the potential to develop minor turbulence and an associated downdraft during the final approach, the pilot should have been able to anticipate and adequately handle the variable wind condition. It is likely that the pilot's delayed reaction to the variable wind condition resulted in an excessive descent rate and the airplane's subsequent collision with the wire fence short of the runway.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.