Piper PA28 N2973K

Summary

On 31 May 2022 at about 23:25 local time, a Piper PA28 registered N2973K was involved in an accident near Simsbury, Connecticut, United States. One person was 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

31 May 2022 at 23:25

Classification

Accident

Location

Simsbury, Connecticut, United States

Nearest airport

Simsbury Airport (4B9)

Coordinates

41.9125, -72.7783

Aircraft

Piper PA28

Registration

N2973K

Category

Airplane

Year built

1979

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Farmingdale → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA22LA253

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s delayed decision to abort the landing, which resulted in a runway overrun.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was on a cross country flight and at the destination airport entered the right downwind leg of the airport traffic pattern, then turned onto right base leg of the airport traffic pattern. Because of “excessive wind gusts” on final approach he performed a go-around and remained in the traffic pattern for the same runway. On final approach the flight again encountered a wind gust and the airplane descended. He added power to arrest the descent but the airplane then floated down the runway. The airplane touched down just prior to a taxiway, with about 959 ft of runway available. He applied the brakes but realized he would be unable to stop before the runway end. He applied power to abort the landing, but the airplane did not climb as he expected and it travelled off the end of the runway into a farm field. He did not recall if he applied the brakes or reduced power in an attempt to abort the aborted landing. The airplane impacted a metal frame that enclosed plants and came to rest with the nose landing gear collapsed. The engine mount was substantially damaged. He reported that when he added full power to go-around the engine responded, the airplane was decelerating with initial brake application, and there was nothing mechanically wrong with the airplane that resulted in the runway excursion. Postaccident examination revealed the flap selector was in the retracted position.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.