Pilot Debrief

Piper PA32 near Avalon, CA — 2018-07-25

Final reportWPR18LA203
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Date
2018-07-25
Location
Avalon, CA, USA
Airport
AVX
Aircraft
Piper PA32
Registration
N4747H
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
Serious
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Landing

Probable cause

The pilot's delayed decision to conduct a go-around following an unstable landing approach and long landing.

NTSB narrative

A witness reported that the pilot's first landing attempt was too high, and the airplane went around. During the second landing attempt, the airplane was "still too high and came in too fast." The airplane touched down past the runway midpoint, and as the airplane neared the end of the runway, the witness heard the engine "rev up" and saw the airplane depart the runway in a "very nose high" pitch attitude. The airplane subsequently collided with terrain about 1,000 ft beyond the departure end of the runway and about 75 to 100 ft below the runway surface elevation. The pilot reported that he did not recall the events of the accident, but stated that there were no mechanical anomalies with the airplane. The accident is consistent with the pilot's delayed decision to conduct a go-around following an unstable approach and long landing, which resulted in the airplane having insufficient airspeed to climb after the attempted go-around and impact with terrain.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Controlled flight into terrain
First missed decision gate
Pilot could have aborted the second landing attempt due to high approach speed.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • Photos
  • 3 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents3

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