Event CEN17LA341

Factual narrative

On May 27, 2017, about 1135 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-28-140, N5584U, impacted trees, terrain, and a tractor near Ray Township, Michigan. The private pilot on board sustained serious injuries and the airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was owned and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. No flight plan was filed and day visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The pilot was landing at the Ray Community Airport following a 20 minute local flight. On his first attempt to land, he was high on the approach and elected to go around. On the second landing attempt, the pilot said he was long. He said he applied throttle and lost consciousness. Witnesses reported that the pilot made several landing attempts, but each time the airplane was too fast or too high to land. On the last attempt, the airplane touched down fast about halfway down the 2,495' runway. The airplane skipped, floated, and impacted the runway nose gear first about 1/4 the distance from the end, breaking the nose gear. The airplane bounced and departed the east end of the runway. The airplane continued across a gravel road, through a field, and then struck several small trees and a farm tractor before coming to a stop. The pilot's flight instructor said the pilot was not competent to operate the airplane. He had previously flown with the pilot and said that his traffic patterns, approaches and landings were very substandard for the certificate he held. The flight instructor discussed this with the pilot following their last flight together, and told the pilot he needed a lot of practice and should be flying with a competent pilot or instructor. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings, the engine and propeller, the engine cowling, and forward fuselage. The nose landing gear was broken aft and the left main landing gear was bent inboard. Flight control continuity was confirmed. An examination of the airplane's engine, and other systems revealed no pre-impact anomalies that contributed to the accident. The private pilot (the owner of the airplane) was landing at the airport following a local flight. Witnesses reported that the airplane made several landing attempts, but, each time, the airplane was too fast or too high to land. On the last attempt, the airplane touched down hard and fast about halfway down the 2,495-ft-long runway. The airplane continued off the end of the runway, across a road, through a field, and struck several small trees and a tractor before coming to a stop. An examination of the airplane's systems revealed no pre-impact anomalies that contributed to the accident.    A flight instructor who had previously flown with the pilot told the pilot that he should fly only with an instructor on board, and that he was not ready to fly the airplane alone. Thus, it is likely that the pilot did not have the necessary experience to conduct a successful landing in the airplane. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

• C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
• F Personnel issues-Experience/knowledge-Experience/qualifications-Total experience w/ equipment-Pilot - F