ATL98LA074 · Piper PA-30
Piper PA-30 · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Augusta Regional At Bush Field (AGS) to OA7
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL98LA074
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Piper PA-30
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-30
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N7312Y
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Augusta Regional At Bush Field (AGS), Augusta, GATo OA7
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach · VFR go-around
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- In flight collision with object
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Wire, transmission; Tree(s)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, not followed
- Pilot in command › Gear retraction, not selected
- Pilot in command › Proper touchdown point, not attained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported he landed beyond the first third of the 3,075 foot runway which was NOTAMed. He stated the brakes seemed ineffective, and a go around was initiated. The pilot stated he applied full power, raised flaps, and lifted off just before the end of the runway. He stated he then made a left bank to avoid trees ahead. During the left bank, the left wing struck a power line, trees, and the ground. The investigation revealed the airplane's landing gear was extended. In this airplane, a normal go-around is accomplished by adding full power, raising the flaps, and raising the landing gear. The pilot had 24 hours of flight time in this airplane. The investigation also revealed the right brake was impact damaged, and the left brake was intact and showed ample pad available. When the cockpit brake peddle was pushed, the pad operated at the left wheel. A witness reported he heard tires skidding several times. He looked out and noticed an airplane near the end of the runway. He heard the engine power increase with approximately 500-600 feet remaining, and the airplane rotated with about 75 feet remaining in the runway. As trees beyond the runway were approached, the pilot turned left, clipped a wire with the left wing, then collided with the ground. The witness stated the landing gear remained down. The landing distance over a 50 foot obstacle with the accident conditions is 2040 feet. Without an obstacle, the airplane can land in 690 feet.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to attain the proper touchdown point and improper go-around procedures resulting in collision with wires, trees, and the ground. Factors were the pilot's lack of familiarity with the airplane and the short runway.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL98LA074
- Event ID
- 20001211X09990
- Case number
- ATL98LA074
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: b2270f5a497afe60baea585952615c2aa9c9d598a9d9668d5ede43db8b16a538; retrieved 2026-09-21T20:51:27.005Z.