At about 14:30 eastern time, a Piper PA-34-200 crashed while landing at Washington County Regional Airport. The pilot was not injured. The pilot initially had flown an ILS at Martinsburg, W.Va., but encountered turbulence and wind gusts he thought exceeded the airplanes limits. He did not land and proceeded to Hagerstown, where he flew the ILS into runway 27. Winds at the time were 30 degrees off the runway at 18 knots. As he neared the flare the wind subsided. The pilot said the airplane was hit by turbulence when it was three to five feet above the runway. The airplane porpoised several times and the nose gear collapsed. The pilot reported 2,530 hours of flight experience, of which 7.5 hours were in make and model.
April 13, Hagerstown, Md. / Piper Seneca
At about 14:30 eastern time, a Piper PA-34-200 crashed while landing at Washington County Regional Airport. The pilot was not injured. The pilot initially had flown an ILS at Martinsburg, W.Va., but encountered turbulence and wind gusts he thought exceeded the airplanes limits. He did not land and proceeded to Hagerstown, where he flew the ILS into runway 27. Winds at the time were 30 degrees off the runway at 18 knots. As he neared the flare the wind subsided. The pilot said the airplane was hit by turbulence when it was three to five feet above the runway. The airplane porpoised several times and the nose gear collapsed. The pilot reported 2,530 hours of flight experience, of which 7.5 ho...
Key Takeaways:
- A Piper PA-34-200 crashed while landing at Washington County Regional Airport, though the pilot was uninjured.
- The incident followed an aborted landing attempt at another airport due to severe turbulence and wind gusts exceeding the aircraft's limits.
- During the final approach at Washington County, the aircraft was struck by turbulence at a low altitude, causing it to porpoise and leading to the collapse of the nose gear.
- The pilot reported significant overall flight experience but limited hours (7.5) in the specific make and model of the aircraft.
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