Piper PA34-220T accident at Friedrichshafen on 19 December 2006

Overview and Aircraft Details On 19 December 2006, a Piper PA34-220T, a six-seat twin-engine aircraft manufactured in 1982 with serial number 34-3448015, was involved in an accident at Friedrichshafen. The aircraft, registered in Switzerland, had a total airframe time of 7,067 hours at the time of the incident. It was operated by a flight school for commercial pilot training. ## Flight Progression and Accident Sequence The aircraft was on a local training flight with a flight instructor and two students aboard. Following a landing and a touch-and-go maneuver, the third approach was intended to conclude with a landing. After initial touchdown, the aircraft lifted off again, and the instructor initiated a go-around. Near the ground at very low speed, the aircraft veered sharply to the right, crossed the taxiway, and headed toward an aircraft hangar. ## Impact and Damage The aircraft touched down with a left bank. Upon first ground contact, the left main landing gear broke, and the left wing and left propeller made contact with the ground. The aircraft came to rest on a grass strip between the taxiway and the paved apra of a building at 13:58 local time. The right engine was still running at idle when the aircraft stopped. The accident site was located 270 meters to the right of runway 24, 728 meters from the runway threshold. ## Personnel and Injuries The responsible pilot was a 48-year-old flight instructor holding a JAR-issued commercial pilot license valid until 15 June 2007. He had a total of 11,614 flight hours, including approximately 2,000 hours on the accident type. The student pilot in the co-pilot seat was 27 years old, training to become a line pilot, and held a JAR-issued private pilot license valid until 15 September 2010. He had 170 total flight hours, including two hours on the accident type. No injuries were reported. ## Meteorological and Airport Conditions At the time of the accident, the wind was from 040 degrees at 16 knots. Horizontal visibility exceeded 10 kilometers, and the base of the lowest broken cloud layer was at 3,300 feet above ground. The air temperature near the ground was 2°C, with a dew point of -4°C. The barometric pressure was 1012 hPa. Friedrichshafen Airport is located 3.5 kilometers northwest of the city and has an elevation of 1,367 feet. It features a 2,365-meter asphalt runway oriented 06/24. ## Post-Accident Engine Testing Following the rightward veer during the go-around, the right engine was tested to determine if it could accept power from idle. With the mixture and propeller control set to “high” and the power lever briefly moved toward full power, the engine began to “stutter.” The RPM dropped below 1,000 and the engine stopped after several jerky rotations. The engine was restarted to test its behavior with the mixture half-advanced. In this case, the RPM increased continuously. The engine also ran properly with the electric fuel pump in the “low” position, but shut down immediately when the pump was set to “high.” ## Additional Information On 24 November and 3 December 2006, takeoffs were aborted because the right engine did not produce takeoff power. An inspection at a maintenance facility found that the right engine was running rich in the mid-power range. This finding was reported to the aircraft owner for correction. No maintenance action was recorded for the 3 December 2006 finding. The aircraft was not equipped with a flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder, as these were not required by applicable aviation regulations.