Seymour Air Park Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Sevierville, Tennessee 37865
Thursday, August 30, 2007 13:40 EDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The pilot of the Piper PA-28 cancelled his instrument flight rules clearance and descended for a visual flight rules approach to the 2,300-foot -long turf airstrip, where he knew it had previously rained. He conducted a low pass along the runway to determine airport conditions. He observed the wind sock to be "limp," and did not see any standing water on the runway. He completed another circuit of the traffic pattern and flew a "stable approach" using full flaps. The pilot stated that on final approach he had a "normal sight picture...with sufficient runway for normal ground roll," and that touchdown occurred with 1,500 feet of runway remaining. After touchdown, the pilot recognized the reduced braking effectiveness due to the wet grass, and applied heavy braking. The airplane overran the runway, crossed a road, and impacted trees. For a dry paved runway, the landing performance charts in the Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) indicated a total landing distance of approximately 1,300 feet, which included a ground roll of approximately 800 feet. The POH did not contain any qualitative or quantitative landing distance information for turf, wet, or wet turf runways.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The pilot misjudged his speed and distance resulting in an overrun. Contributing to the accident was the wet turf runway and the lack of any information in the pilot operating handbook regarding landing distance on a wet turf runway.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 8/30/2007
Event Day of the Week Thursday
Time of Event 1340
Event Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Event City Sevierville
Event State TENNESSEE
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 37865
Event Date Year 2007
Event Date Month 8
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 354842N
Event Location Longitude 0834629W
Event Location Airport Seymour Air Park
Event Location Nearest Airport ID TN20
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 1000
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1333 Eastern Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 270
Weather Observation Facility ID TYS
Elevation of weather observation facility 981
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 10
Time Zone of the weather observation EDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 700
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) 23
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 22
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 360
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 5
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.05
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 1
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 24934
NTSB Notification Source FAA Southern Region C-ROC
NTSB Notification Date Aug 30 2007 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information --
Date of most recent change to record Feb 18 2009 12:52PM
User who most recently changed record broda
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Nashville, TN

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N3077Q
NTSB Number NYC07LA206
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed IFR
Flight plan Was Activated? Yes
Damage Substantial
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name PIPER
Aircraft Model PA-28-181
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 28-7790434
Certified Max Gross Weight 2550
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class --
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 Jun 1 2007 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 95
Airframe Hours 3988
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type C91-A
Aircraft Owner Name Archer Aircraft Company
Aircraft Owner Street Address 257 Calderwood Street
Aircraft Owner City Alcoa
Aircraft Owner State TN
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 37701
Operator is an individual? Yes
Operator Name Tony F Miraldi
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address --
Operator City Knoxville
Operator State TN
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 37923
Operator Code --
Owner has at least one certificate None
Other Operator of large aircraft? No
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 No
Departure Airport Code SCX
Departure City Oneida
Departure State TN
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1258
Departure Time Zone EDT
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code TN20
Destination City Seymour
Destination State TN
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Landing - roll
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Jan 16 2009 4:42PM
User who most recently changed record muzd
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location 25
Runway Length 2300
Runway Width 100
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --