Accident Overview
On December 10, 2019, about 1303 eastern standard time, a Piper PA-28-235, registration N9097W, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Louisville, Kentucky. The pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.
Flight and Landing Sequence
The pilot reported that he was on the return leg of a round-trip flight. He contacted the Bowman Field Airport (LOU) air traffic control tower and stated a 3-mile left base position for runway 24. He was cleared for a visual approach to runway 24 and began descending to traffic pattern altitude while performing before landing procedures and reducing speed. He turned onto the final leg for runway 24 and descended using the visual approach slope indicator, noting no irregular indications of plane operation. Automated terminal information service "Zulu" was current and included wind from 280° at 7 knots. He maintained approach speed with a slight crosswind, flaps set to the second notch (25°), and pitch trim set to neutral. He maintained 85 knots to the threshold, then slowed to 70 knots after crossing. In ground effect with no stall annunciation, he began to flare. Suddenly the nose "jerked down" and he was unable to physically manipulate the control yoke. The airplane impacted the pavement of runway 24 with the nose gear, causing it to collapse. The airplane came to rest on the left side of the runway 24 centerline, about 30 ft from the end of the aiming point marking, with the nose and left main landing gear in the grass, and the right main landing gear wheel still on the runway. The pilot secured the electrical system, turned off the fuel selector, and exited.
Post-Accident Examination
Examination of the airplane at the accident site before recovery by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed the right wing was displaced downward outboard of the inboard fuel tank and the nose landing gear was collapsed aft. Gouges were noted on the runway centerline about 120 ft from the displaced threshold, consistent with being made by the propeller. Marks on the runway from the displaced right wing and collapsed nose landing gear continued from initial impact to the resting position.
Initial examination at the site revealed only slight movement of the stabilator. Examination following recovery revealed impact damage to the flight control pulleys near the control yoke lower mount area caused by a portion of the collapsed nose landing gear assembly. The vertical portion of the control column was displaced enough to cause the pilot's control yoke slide tube to contact the bottom of the directional gyro (DG). After the DG was placed back into the instrument panel and pressure applied to the control yoke opposite the direction of displacement, the stabilator control moved freely to the stops in both directions. Testing of the stabilator control cables, with FAA oversight, revealed they were 2 pounds below the appropriate reading correlated to the temperature. The stabilator trim actuator was found positioned slight airplane nose-up, corresponding to the cockpit setting.
Additional Data
A review of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast data showed between 1302:54 and 1303:24 (last target), the airplane traveled about 4,070 ft in about 30 seconds, correlating to an average calculated groundspeed of about 81 knots. The airplane flight manual specified stall speed range at gross weight for clean configuration (no flaps) and flaps extended are 61 and 53 knots, respectively. According to NTSB personnel, the wind reported by LOU ATCT was consistent with surface observations; wind of 20+ knots did not occur until about 2,500 ft mean sea level, which did not meet low level windshear criteria.