17 Dec 2008: PIPER PA28 236 — Pilot

17 Dec 2008: PIPER PA28 236 — Pilot

No fatalities • Ely, MN, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during landing. Contributing to the accident were the reduced left main landing gear wheel rotation for undetermined reasons and the snow-covered runway.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The pilot had flown his airplane into the departure airport earlier in the day. The airplane was placed into a hangar where the pilot later returned to preflight the airplane. The 1453 winds at the airport were from 260 degrees at 5 knots. Following the preflight, he started the airplane in the hangar and taxied to runway 30 (5,600 feet by 100 feet), which was covered with 1 inch of snow. The rudder pedals steered the airplane normally during the taxi to the runway. About 5 minutes after takeoff the cabin door opened about 1/4 inch. The pilot returned and landed on runway 30, which was still snow covered. The pilot stated that during the landing rollout, he noticed the airplane pulling "slightly" to the left, which he attributed to a stuck left main landing gear wheel. He applied right rudder to keep the airplane on the runway centerline, but as the airplane slowed, it pulled more to the left. The pilot stated that he did not reduce or shut down engine power but instead used 1,200 rpm in an attempt to increase rudder effectiveness. He also did not use right brake to maintain directional control. The airplane impacted a snow bank damaging the right wing tip and outboard section of the wing. The outboard section of the right wing exhibited a deformation of the upper wing skin, which was orientated about 45 degrees relative to the wing span axis. The airplane was equipped with landing gear wheel fairings. The pilot reported that the left wheel plowed through the snow on the runway and did not rotate during the landing. The pilot and passenger were uninjured.

Contributing factors

  • Unintentional use/operation
  • factor Main landing gear
  • cause Directional control — Not attained/maintained
  • cause Pilot
  • factor Snow/slush/ice covered

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 260/05kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.