Loss of Control in Flight · NTSB CEN17FA147
PIPER PA-28-180 — Oxford, IA
| Date | April 7, 2017 |
| Location | Oxford, IA |
| Aircraft | PIPER PA-28-180 |
| Purpose of flight | Instructional |
| Conditions | Day · Visual Meteorological Cond |
| Phase / occurrence | Uncontrolled descent Collision with terr/obj (non-CFIT) |
| Pilot age | 53 |
| Pilot total time | Unknown |
| Time in type | Unknown |
| Fatalities | 2 |
Probable cause
NTSB findings
- Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student/instructed pilot - C
- Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Delayed action-Instructor/check pilot - C
- Personnel issues-Psychological-Attention/monitoring-Monitoring other person-Instructor/check pilot - C
What happened
The private pilot had not flown in several years and was receiving instruction from a flight instructor. Radar data indicated that the pilots were performing ground reference maneuvers during the flight. The data showed that the airplane maintained an altitude of 3,400 ft mean sea level, about 2,600 ft above ground level, before it made a left turn and entered a rapid descent. A witness reported that he heard the engine popping and backfiring, and it appeared as if the airplane wasn't moving forward. According to the witness, the nose of the airplane then dropped, and the airplane entered a spiral and completed eight or nine rotations, before it entered a straight nose-down dive that continued to impact A postaccident examination of the airframe and engine did not reveal any anomalies consistent with a preimpact failure or malfunction. It is likely that the private pilot was practicing a stall from which he did not recover before the airplane entered a spin. In addition, had the instructor been appropriately monitoring the private pilot's actions he would have been able to provide remedial action to recover from the stall/spin.