Crash location | 43.387500°N, 95.139166°W |
Nearest city | Spirit Lake, IA
43.464406°N, 95.084161°W 6.0 miles away |
Tail number | N4680Z |
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Accident date | 21 Dec 2005 |
Aircraft type | Piper PA-22-108 |
Additional details: | None |
The airplane encountered snow on the runway during landing on a private airstrip and subsequently nosed over. The day prior to the accident the pilot reported that he removed snow from the runway. The pilot stated, "After setting down the left wheel got into the snow on runway edge. Braking and correcting the aircraft caught in the right edge of snow on runway. This pulled the nose wheel into the snow also. At this time the aircraft was slowing down fast. All of a sudden the left wing and nose came over and that was 'all over'." The pilot's safety recommendation was, "This accident could have been prevented by doing as in many accident (When in doubt. Don't do.)."
The pilot using an unsuitable runway and not maintaining directional control during the landing leading to the nose over on impact with snow. A factor was the snow that remained on the runway after plowing.