ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 37930
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| Date: | Saturday 13 December 1997 |
| Time: | 15:45 |
| Type: |  Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee |
| Owner/operator: | Sylvania Flying Club |
| Registration: | N5454S |
| MSN: | 28-7125120 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1971 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | near Sylvania Airport (C89), WI -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Sylvania Airport, WI (C89) |
| Sylvania Airport, WI (C89) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On December 13, 1997, at 1545 central standard time (cst), a Piper PA-28-140, N5454S, piloted by a student pilot, was destroyed during a collision with a moving tractor-trailer truck and terrain while on short final approach to runway 26L (2,300' X 33' dry/asphalt) at the Sylvania Airport, Sturtevant, Wisconsin. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight was not operating on a flight plan. The pilot was fatally injured. The flight departed Sturtevant, Wisconsin, at 1540 cst.
Witnesses reported the airplane approached the runway at a '...very low angle... .' The airplane crossed a 4-lane highway that was perpendicular to the runway and final approach course. The landing gear struck the top of a southbound semi-trailer truck's air deflector and trailer, then the airplane collided with the ground about 140-feet west of the truck collision point. According to the pilot's logbook, she had accumulated over 37 hours of total flight experience. She had flown about 26 hours at an airport that had runways 100 and 150-feet wide, and about 11 hours at the accident airport runway, 33 feet wide. According to a Human Performance Specialist at the FAA's Civil Aeromedical Institute, runway width differences may be a source of distortion in perception during landing. When the runway is narrower than normal, the pilot may experience an illusion that causes them to fly a lower than normal final approach path.
Probable Cause: The pilot's misjudgment of altitude/distance and her failure to maintain adequate visual lookout. Also causal was the pilot's failure to maintain adequate obstacle clearance. A contributing factor was the pilot experiencing a visual illusion.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
Images:
Photos: NTSB
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 24-Oct-2008 10:30 | ASN archive | Added |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:23 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 18-Oct-2022 12:11 | Captain Adam | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category, Accident report, Photo] |
| 18-Oct-2022 12:12 | Captain Adam | Updated [Photo] |
| 18-Oct-2022 12:12 | Captain Adam | Updated [Photo] |
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