PiperComanche

At about 14:37 EDT, the landing gear of a Piper PA- 24-250 Comanche collapsed on landing rollout at Naples Municipal Airport. No one was injured. The pilot said she completed the prelanding check and lowered the landing gear about five miles from the airport. She did not see a green light and recycled the landing gear several times with negative results. She contacted Naples tower and asked if they could see the landing gear. She was informed that a medical evacuation aircraft was close by. The medical evacuation pilot informed her that the landing gear appeared to be down. The tower also informed her that the landing gear appeared to be down on short final. A manual gear extension was not a…

At 17:20 CST, a Piper PA-24-260 crashed on approach to Lakefront Airport, killing all four aboard. The aircraft reportedly was No. 2 for landing behind traffic on a right base for runway 36R. It appeared that the aircraft was lining up with runway 27, so the air traffic controller asked the pilot what his intentions were and confirmed that the pilot was to land on runway 36R. A witness observed the aircraft flying slowly at about 200 feet agl. The aircraft began a bank to the left and then a bank to the right. Then the aircrafts nose dropped, and it entered a left turn and descended out of sight behind some warehouse buildings. The airplane came to rest between two warehouse buildings about…

At approximately 12:30 MST, the pilot of a Piper PA-24-250 was seriously injured while hand propping the airplane. The aircrafts battery was dead and the pilot was attempting to hand start the airplane. He stumbled on loose gravel when the engine started, and the propeller struck the pilot in the face. The passenger was uninjured….

At 21:30 EST, a Piper PA-24-180 struck trees while trying to make an emergency landing in Cordesville. The pilot and front seat passenger were killed and a rear seat passenger was seriously injured. The flight departed Princeton, N.J., at 16:15. The FBO at the departure airport said the pilot planned a fuel stop in Savannah, Ga. Approximately 5:15 into the flight the pilot radioed Charleston Approach control and requested landing. About two minutes later the pilot reported the airplane had run out of fuel. The approach controller issued the pilot radar vectors to the nearest airport. Seconds later radio and radar contact was lost and an ELT signal was detected by another airplane….

At about 18:13 CST, a Piper PA-24-260 crashed into West Bay approximately three miles from Panama City-Bay County International Airport, killing the pilot. IMC prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The flight was en route from Luverne, Ala., and the pilot contacted the Panama City control tower when he was six miles out. The controller advised him to enter a left downwind to runway 32, then advised him that the weather conditions at the airport were below VFR minimums. The pilot said he did not have the field in sight and was at 900 feet. He said he would fly north and was told to contact Jacksonville Center, which he did. Radar data showed that, in the five minutes before the accident, th…

At about 10:47 eastern time, a Piper PA-24-250 lost power and was damaged in a forced landing 5 miles southwest of Immokalee Airport. The instructor sustained serious injuries and the private-rated student sustained minor injuries. The flight had originated about 30 minutes earlier from Naples, Fla. The engine quit at 1,200 feet and the instructor switched from the right to the left fuel tank but the engine did not restart. Investigation of the wreckage revealed no visible fuel in the right main fuel tank; the fuel selector was found positioned to the right main fuel tank. The remaining tanks were nearly full….

At 16:55 mountain time, a Piper PA-24-250 crashed in the mountains about seven miles southeast of Antimony, killing the pilot and his passenger. The pilot was not instrument rated but IMC prevailed at the accident site. A family friend said the pilot had owned the airplane for four months and had flown from Mesa, Ariz., to Provo earlier that day to pick up his father. The pilot and his father were going to return to Mesa. At approximately 15:35, the pilot called his wife by cell phone while he was taxiing for takeoff and told her he would be back in Mesa by 18:30. A controller observed a VFR target in the vicinity of Antimony flying east to west. The target squawked 7700 once then disappeare…

At approximately 18:45 central time, a Piper PA-24-250 was damaged during a wheels-up landing on runway 15 at Garner Field Airport. The pilot was not injured. The pilot said his approach was too high and too fast. He did not select the gear down until he was on final approach and did not check for a gear down-and-locked indication until he was on short final. He noted it was not illuminated and added power to go around but the engine sputtered. He elected to reduce power and land gear up. The aircraft caught fire and the rear portion burned….

At about 15:00 eastern time, a Piper PA-24-250 crashed near Pittsview. The pilot was not injured and a passenger reported minor injuries. The flight had departed Lakeland, Fla., for Auburn, Ala., more than four hours before the crash. The pilot told investigators he exhausted his fuel and had to land in a vacant field….

At about 17:30 Pacific time, a Piper PA-24-250 was damaged in a wheels-up landing on runway 26 at Chino. The pilot was not injured. The pilot told investigators he initiated a go-around on his first attempted landing because the runway wasnt clear. He forgot that he raised his landing gear. He was wearing a new noise-attenuating headset that changed the sounds he normally heard when flying his airplane. He did not recognize the gear warning horn during the accident landing. He recalled that the gear warning horn was still sounding as he removed his headset….