Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Pierce Co-Thun Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Puyallup, Washington 98375
Friday, November 9, 2001 20:15 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilots reported that while the accident aircraft was on downwind, a light helicopter (believed to be a Robinson R22) entered final approach. The flight instructor reported that the helicopter cleared the active runway "about one-half to one-quarter mile before our touchdown." The trainee stated that after clearing the runway, the helicopter moved right to the parallel taxiway, approximately 180 feet from the runway. The pilots reported that approximately 200 to 300 feet past the runway threshold, the aircraft suddenly rolled right, yawed right, and sank, and that despite control inputs to attempt to counter these motions, the aircraft touched down right-wing-low in the grass adjacent to the runway. The pilots elected to continue the landing rollout in the grass. During the landing rollout, the aircraft's nose gear failed. The instructor indicated that no mechanical malfunction or failure was involved in the accident. An R22 on the parallel taxiway at the north end of the airport is approximately 7 main rotor diameters from the runway, well outside the three main rotor diameters specified by the FAA Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) for rotor wash avoidance from a helicopter in a slow hover taxi or stationary hover. The accident aircraft's maximum gross weight is also approximately twice that of the R22. Dark night visual meteorological conditions, with calm winds, were reported by the flight instructor.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilots' failure to maintain aircraft control on short final, resulting in a touchdown off of the prepared landing surface. A factor was grassy terrain encountered on the landing rollout.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/9/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 2015 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Puyallup |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98375 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Pierce Co-Thun Field |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 1S0 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 538 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12378 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 28 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 915 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 24 2002 3:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle (Renton), WA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9466K |
| NTSB Number | SEA02LA016 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28R-200 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 7635244 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2650 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 25 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 76 |
| Airframe Hours | 5849 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Inn Keepers, America |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 16715 Meridian East, Bldg. H |
| Aircraft Owner City | Puyallup |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98375 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Spanaflight, Inc. |
| 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 | GHXA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 1S0 |
| Departure City | Puyallup |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1750 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 1S0 |
| Destination City | Puyallup |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 3 2002 5:41PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 16 |
| Runway Length | 3650 |
| Runway Width | 60 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |