BFO94LA065
1994-04-04 · WILLIMANTIC, Connecticut, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport IJD
Current FAA registration · N30DW
- Make / Model
- PIPER PA-28R-200
- Year of manufacture
- 1971 · 23 years old at event
- Engine
- LYCOMING I0360 SER (180 hp)
- Seats / Engines
- 4 seats · 1 engine
- Last airworthiness date
- 19710920
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S A31D59
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The instructor's inadequate supervision and the student's improper landing flare.
Factual narrative
On April 4, 1994, about 1030 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-28R-200, N30DW, was substantially damaged during a hard landing at the Windham Airport, Willimantic, Connecticut. The certified flight instructor and his dual student were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The local instructional flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The certified flight instructor reported that he and his student were practicing touch and go landings at several airports within the local flying area. He said a hard landing occurred at the Windham Airport, but he did not think the airplane sustained substantial damage. The certified flight instructor stated that upon termination of the flight, he noticed the airplane had sustained damaged and reported it to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). An inspection of the airplane by a FAA Safety Inspector revealed the airplane's wings, wheel wells, and "bottom false spar cap" sustained damaged. THE PURPOSE OF THE INSTRUCTIONAL FLIGHT WAS TO CONDUCT TOUCH AND GO LANDINGS AT LOCAL AIRPORTS. THE STUDENT PILOT HAD 74 HOURS OF TOTAL FLIGHT TIME. THE INSTRUCTOR REPORTED THAT DURING ONE OF THE TOUCH AND GO LANDINGS, A HARD LANDING WAS MADE. THE CFI STATED THAT HE DID NOT THINK THAT THE TOUCHDOWN WAS HARD ENOUGH TO DAMAGE THE AIRPLANE. AT THE END OF THE FLIGHT, THE INSTRUCTOR NOTICED THE RIGHT WING WAS DAMAGED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1994_BFO94LA065.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Search this event elsewhere
External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.
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