Event MIA98LA257

Factual narrative

On August 27, 1998, about 2315 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-32-300, N44295, registered to Caribbean Aviation, LC, operating as a 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, crashed while landing at Opa Locka Airport, Miami, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a VFR flight plan was filed. The airplane sustained substantial damage and the private-rated pilot and four passengers were not injured. The flight originated from Key West International Airport about 50 minutes before the accident. According to the pilot's statement, his landing flare resulted in a hard touchdown and resultant bounce. At some point in that first bounce, he added and then reduced power for a second flare, but his compensation for a wind gust was inadequate, and the nose attitude became too high. The airplane stalled, sustained a second hard touchdown and started porpoising. The porpoising continued until the nose landing gear collapsed, and the airplane skidded off the runway. The occurrence was upgraded from incident status with minor damage to substantial damage on October 2, 1998, when Miami FSDO notified NTSB that closer inspection revealed wing spar damage. The pilot bounced on his initial touchdown. He attempted to correct with the application and then reduction of power during which the aircraft entered a nose high attitude and stalled. The aircraft then touched down hard a second time and began porpoising during which the nose landing gear collapsed and the aircraft skidded off the runway. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12