No fatalities

8 Aug 2020: Piper PA28R 200 — Englewood, CO

Englewood, CO, United States

On 8 Aug 2020, a Piper PA28R 200 was involved in an aviation accident near Englewood, CO. No fatalities were reported. Investigators recorded the probable cause as: The flight instructor did not maintain a proper approach path and landing flare during a landing with a tailwind, which resulted in a hard landing and damaged landing gear. This summary draws on records from NTSB; 12 related events involving the same aircraft type or operator are linked below.

SourcesNTSBPrimary reportUpdated 1778583330Data APIEditorial standards

During a touch-and-go training flight, a complex airplane landed sideways due to a quartering tailwind. After takeoff, the landing gear malfunctioned and later collapsed during landing, causing substantial damage.

Incident Overview

A flight instructor was demonstrating a short approach and touch-and-go landing to a student pilot in a complex airplane. During the final approach, the instructor was unable to correct for a quartering tailwind, resulting in the airplane touching down sideways on the left main landing gear. The instructor later remarked that the landing "felt a bit unusual, but the approach had been stable and the landing wasn't that bad."

Post-Landing Events

After the initial landing, the airplane took off, but the landing gear would not retract. The instructor troubleshooted the problem and declared an emergency. Subsequently, the instructor landed the airplane with an unsafe landing gear indication. Upon touchdown, the left main landing gear collapsed, causing the instructor to lose directional control. The airplane then impacted taxiway lights and came to rest upright adjacent to the runway.

Damage and Examination

Postaccident examination revealed substantial damage to the left wing. Further inspection of the left main landing gear and wing showed overload damage to the landing gear wing attachment. The flight instructor stated that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

Contributing factors

Instructor/check pilotDescent/approach/glide path — Not attained/maintainedLanding flare — Not attained/maintainedEffect on operationDirectional control — Not attained/maintained