Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Sussex Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sussex, New Jersey 07461
Wednesday, March 30, 2005 14:45 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot\owner was executing a practice forced landing to a runway, with a flight instructor in the right seat. During the landing, the right main landing gear contacted the top wire of a set of wires approximately 30 feet high, and 200 feet short of the approach end of the runway. The right wing dropped, and the pilot applied full left rudder and power. The engine responded, but the airplane impacted the runway. The pilot had the warning balls on the wires insight, but did not realize there was an additional wire 4 to 6 feet higher.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to insure adequate obstacle clearance while conducting a practice forced landing approach, and the flight instructor's failure to take remedial action, which resulted in an in-flight collision with wires.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/30/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1445 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Sussex |
| Event State | NEW JERSEY |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 07461 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 411201N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0743723W |
| Event Location Airport | Sussex |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | FWN |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1453 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FWN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 421 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| 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) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 40 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.06 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 18036 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NJ State Police |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 31 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1700 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 7 2005 10:33AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Albany |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9235J |
| NTSB Number | NYC05CA065 |
| 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-28-180 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 283308 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Bruce Gregory |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Wellington |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 33414 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| 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? | -- |
| 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 | FWN |
| Departure City | Sussex |
| Departure State | NJ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | FWN |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - final approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 25 2005 11:24AM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 3 |
| Runway Length | 3499 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |