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Atlas / NTSB / ERA21LA210

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ERA21LA210

2021-04-28 Friendly, Maryland, United States Airport · VKX None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N32592

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER PA-28-180

Year of manufacture

1974 · 47 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING O&VO-360 SER (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19741120

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A38491

Registrant of record

5NINER2 AVIATION LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to attain a proper touchdown point on landing, which resulted in a collision with the runway lip.

Factual narrative

The pilot stated that he had a higher-than-normal sink rate on final approach. The airplane landed short, and the left main landing gear struck the lip of the runway. The airplane bounced, then settled back on the runway, and the left wing dropped. The airplane veered off the runway into the grass and the left landing gear fully collapsed, resulting in substantial damage to the left wing. The pilot said that he was carrying two passengers and did not consider the extra weight in the airplane, and that he should have added power sooner to arrest the sink rate.   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).

  • Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Pilot
  • Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent/approach/glide path-Not attained/maintained

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_ERA21LA210.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.