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CHI83LA112 · Piper PA28-140

12 Feb 1983 · Three Oaks, MI, United States

Piper PA28-140 · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach

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Event

NTSB case
CHI83LA112
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 PA28-140

Aircraft type
Piper PA28
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
N6487W
Operator
Daryl D. Cummings · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo not recorded
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 pattern final
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
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

  • Unqualified person › Flare, not possible
  • Unqualified person › Proper altitude, not maintained
  • Unqualified person › Stolen aircraft/unauthorized use, initiated

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Three Oaks, MI, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH A WIRE DURING THE LANDING APPROACH AND LANDED HARD ENOUGH TO COLLAPSE THE NOSE GEAR. ACCORDING TO THE OWNER THE FLT WAS NOT AUTHORIZED AND THE PERSON AT THE CONTROLS HELD NO PILOT CERTIFICATE. THE PILOT MADE THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT, 'I WAS SIMPLY TOO LOW AND THE RIGHT WHEEL CAUGHT THE ELECTRIC WIRE WHICH FORCED THE PLANE NOSE OVER, AT WHICH TIME ALL I COULD DO WAS PULL THE RUDDER ALL THE WAY BACK TO KEEP FROM LANDING ON THE NOSE. AS IT HAPPENED I LANDED IN AN UPRIGHT POSITION BUT I HIT TOO HARD AND BROKE OFF THE NOSE WHEEL.'

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI83LA112
Event ID
20001214X42162
Case number
CHI83LA112
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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1983-02-13.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 85cd34bb34240def74489aafa0935e61223f299b281c10ca5b7a3ddecf6a8e2c; retrieved 2026-09-23T23:11:15.177Z.