Piper PA 28 N288PA

Summary

On 12 March 2017 at about 02:00 local time, a Piper PA 28 registered N288PA, operated by Bird Acquisition LLC, was involved in an accident near Gila Bend, Arizona, 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

12 March 2017 at 02:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Gila Bend, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Gila Bend Muni (E63)

Coordinates

32.9603, -112.6736

Aircraft

Piper PA 28

Registration

N288PA

Category

Airplane

Year built

2002

Engines

1

Operator

Bird Acquisition LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Chandler → Gila Bend

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

GAA17CA189

Nobody was injured.

The flight instructor’s failure to review the notices to airmen related to the airport, which resulted in his landing on a closed runway and the airplane striking runway closed markers.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor reported that he and two student pilots were on a night, visual flight rules, instructional flight. The instructor tried to activate the pilot-controlled lighting at the destination airport, but he believed that it was inoperative. He reported that he could see the wind sock on the airfield but that he did not see the "X" near the runway numbers and performed a touch and go. During rotation the instructor reported that, "I heard a red cone make impact with the nose gear section." He had to apply continuous forward pressure to the yoke because the nose continued to pitch up with the trim set to the full-down position. He asserted that the flight characteristics were "acceptable" and continued the flight about 47 nautical miles to their home airport. Upon arrival, the instructor alerted the tower that he had a stabilator malfunction and landed the airplane with zero flaps. The instructor reported that he did not check the notices to airmen (NOTAM). The airplane sustained substantial damage to the stabilator. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. According to Federal Aviation Administration NOTAM 03/058, the airport runways were closed at the time of the accident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.