ERA14CA407 · Piper PA-28-140

According to the pilot, after returning from a local flight he configured the airplane for a short field landing on a 1,600 foot-long grass runway. The airplane touched down about 75 feet (ft) past the runway approach end and the pilot applied brakes, which were ineffective due to the wet landing surface. The pilot stated that he quickly added power and the airplane rolled about 1,350 ft before it lifted off the runway. He then maneuvered to avoid tall obstacles at the end of the runway and entered a shallow left turn, but the airplane descended onto a road. The left main landing gear caught the road embankment, separated, and the airplane continued over the road and came to rest in the grass. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed substantial damage to the firewall. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation and that he had successfully landed on the 1,600 foot runway prior to the accident. The airport elevation was 740 ft and the density altitude was 2,671 ft at the time of the accident. Utilizing ambient whether conditions, the only takeoff performance data available in the pilot's operating handbook indicated that the airplane's takeoff distance to clear a 50-foot obstacle should have been approximately 1,500 ft.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset