CHI04LA080 · Piper PA-28-236

The airplane contacted a utility pole during an overrun landing on a 1,280 foot long, damp, upsloping grass airstrip. The pilot stated he touched down with the throttle at idle, in a full stall with full flaps and noticed he was having difficulty slowing the airplane. The pilot reported he applied "stand-on-the-brakes emergency stopping pressure," but he only received minimal braking. The airplane continued off the airstrip, across a country road, and onto a concrete driveway where the left wing contacted a utility pole swinging the airplane around 90 degrees prior to it stopping. Tire marks in the grass revealed the right main gear touched down 272 feet past the runway threshold and the left main touched down 42 feet later. The airplane traveled 30 feet 6 inches past the departure end of the airstrip prior to contacting the utility pole. The pilot reported that although tire marks were visible on the airstrip, the only skid marks visible were when the airplane spun around after contacting the pole. The pilot purchased the airplane on October 1, 2003. The last annual inspection was dated September 27, 2003. The airframe logbook indicates that new brake linings were installed at the last annual inspection. The pilot reported he flew the airplane 46 hours prior to the accident. The pilot reported he did not experience any problems with the brakes prior to this accident. Examination of the airplane revealed the brake disks were worn to the point that they were concave. The inspector reported that only 20 percent of the brake pads were in contact with the disks.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset