Piper PA32 N4747H

Summary

On 25 July 2018 at about 16:30 local time, a Piper PA32 registered N4747H was involved in an accident near Avalon, California, United States. 3 people were on board and one was seriously injured, 2 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

25 July 2018 at 16:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Avalon, California, United States

Nearest airport

Catalina (AVX)

Coordinates

33.4017, -118.4211

Aircraft

Piper PA32

Registration

N4747H

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Fullerton → Avalon

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR18LA203

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot's delayed decision to conduct a go-around following an unstable landing approach and long landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

A witness reported that the pilot's first landing attempt was too high, and the airplane went around. During the second landing attempt, the airplane was "still too high and came in too fast." The airplane touched down past the runway midpoint, and as the airplane neared the end of the runway, the witness heard the engine "rev up" and saw the airplane depart the runway in a "very nose high" pitch attitude. The airplane subsequently collided with terrain about 1,000 ft beyond the departure end of the runway and about 75 to 100 ft below the runway surface elevation. The pilot reported that he did not recall the events of the accident, but stated that there were no mechanical anomalies with the airplane. The accident is consistent with the pilot's delayed decision to conduct a go-around  following an unstable approach and long landing, which resulted in the airplane having insufficient airspeed to climb after the attempted go-around and impact with terrain.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.