ATL82DA156 · Piper PA-23-250
Auburn University Aviation Piper PA-23-250 · Accident: undershoot on approach
From Auburn University Regional Airport (AUO) to Auburn University Regional Airport (AUO)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL82DA156
- 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-23-250
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-23
- 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
- N1AU
- Operator
- Auburn University Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Auburn University Regional Airport (AUO), Auburn, ALTo Auburn University Regional Airport (AUO), Auburn, AL
- 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
- Undershoot
- 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
- Landing gear, nose gear › Jammed
- Landing gear, wheel › Loose
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, installation, improper
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Propeller feathering, premature
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
WHILE ON A DOWNWIND FOR A LANDING IN MULTI-ENGINE TRAINING, THE NOSE GEAR WOULD NOT EXTEND. ALL EFFORTS TO EXTEND THE NOSE GEAR, INCLUDING A BOUNCED LANDING, WERE UNSUCCESSFUL. THE AIRCREW INTENDED TO LAND ON THE MAIN GEAR AND THEN HOLD THE NOSE OFF UNTIL THE AIRCRAFT SLOWED. THE MULTI-ENGINE INSTRUCTOR (IP), WHO OCCUPIED THE RIGHT SEAT, ESTABLISHED THE AIRCRAFT ON A STRAIGHT-IN FINAL APPROACH WITH 1/2 FLAPS AND ZERO THRUST (10 IN HG) ON BOTH ENGINES. WHILE STILL AIRBORNE, THE IP COMMANDED THE STUDENT (A SINGLE-ENGINE IP) TO FEATHER BOTH PROPELLERS AND SHUT DOWN BOTH ENGINES. IMMEDIATELY THE RATE OF DESCENT INCREASED AND THE PLANE TOUCHED DOWN ON AN EMBANKMENT ABOUT 45 FT SHORT OF THE RUNWAY. THE PLANE BOUNCED, AND AFTER A SECOND TOUCHDOWN, THE NOSE CONTACTED THE RUNWAY ABOUT 55 FT BEYOND THE TOUCHDOWN POINT AND WAS DAMAGED. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT A ROCKING NUT WHICH RETAINED THE NOSEWHEEL, WAS MISSING. THE AIRCRAFT HAD UNDERGONE A 100 HR INSPECTION ABOUT 8 HOURS PREVIOUS TO THE ACCIDENT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL82DA156
- Event ID
- 20020917X02746
- Case number
- ATL82DA156
- 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: f991ac2c60f435f9efbb52c9f5ddde514ed1325173d1f84e4c5d2f938094af32; retrieved 2026-09-24T03:01:48.978Z.