Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Palo Alto Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Palo Alto, California 94303
Sunday, March 5, 2000 12:27 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane landed approximately 2 feet short of the runway, and then struck the lip of the pavement, which sheered off the left main gear. The gear itself hung onto the trunnion by the brake lines until the airplane came to rest, approximately 600 feet down the runway. Additionally, the airplane struck a taxiway sign with the left wing while it was traveling down the runway. The pilot told investigators that he was planning on landing on runway 30 and was using 85 knots as his target speed. He said that about 100 feet agl he noticed that he had an excessive sink rate and noticed that his airspeed was about 97 knots. He decided to trade his airspeed to cut the sink rate and said by the time he noticed it wasn't working, he was already on the ground.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to obtain/maintain the proper visual glide path resulting in an undershoot and collision with the runway edge.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/5/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1227 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | PALO ALTO |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 94303 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | PALO ALTO |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PAO |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 300 |
| Airport Elevation | 3 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1330 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 300 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KPA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 3 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 10 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10098 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 5 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1400 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 17 2001 8:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N43412 |
| NTSB Number | LAX00LA117 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-46-310 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-46-310 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 8408034 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4200 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 2 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 66 |
| Airframe Hours | 1923 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | JOSEPH J. GRZEBIK |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | SANTA ROSA |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95404 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | JOSEPH J. GRZEBIK |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | STS |
| Departure City | SANTA ROSA |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1115 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | PAO |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 6 2001 4:02AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 30 |
| Runway Length | 2500 |
| Runway Width | 65 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |