Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Venice Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Venice, Florida 34285
Thursday, May 20, 2004 18:15 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot's wife stated that at the time of the accident she was at the Venice Airport, standing near the hangar where they keep the airplane. She observed her husband doing touch and go landings to runway 22. Just prior to the accident her husband approached to land on runway 22. The airplane never touched down on the runway. As the airplane neared the runway she observed it do a slight lift back up to about the height of a 2 1/2 story building. The right wing then raised up and the left wing dropped down. She stopped watching the airplane and ran to a person at another hangar to call for help. She does not recall the engine sounds. There were some other airplanes taking off before her husband but they had left the area. At the time of the accident there were no other airplanes flying in the area. Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any discrepancies with the aircraft structure, flight controls, aircraft systems, engine assembly, engine components, or propeller. Postmortem examination of the pilot and toxicology testing showed no evidence which could be considered causal to the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of the pilot to recover from an improper landing flare resulting in his failure to maintain airspeed (Vs), an inadvertant stall, loss of control, and inflight collision with terrain during an uncontrolled descent.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/20/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1815 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Venice |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 34285 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 270409N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0822626W |
| Event Location Airport | Venice Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KVNC |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 180 |
| Airport Elevation | 18 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 821 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | VNC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 18 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.15 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1500 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17608 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ATL. Comm. Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 20 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1835 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 28 2005 2:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA Tampa FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3331W |
| NTSB Number | MIA04FA086 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-32-260 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32-169 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3400 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 21 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 18.44 |
| Airframe Hours | 2355.84 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Freedom Aviation LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 411 Commercial Court #D |
| Aircraft Owner City | Venice |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 34292 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Ricky C. Unger |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 9223 Bensonhurst Lane |
| Operator City | Englewood |
| Operator State | FL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 34224 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | KVNC |
| Departure City | Venice |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | -- |
| User who most recently changed record | -- |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 31 |
| Runway Length | 5000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |