| Crash location | 43.262500°N, 84.892500°W
Reported location is a long distance from the NTSB's reported nearest city. This often means that the location has a typo, or is incorrect. |
| Nearest city | Breckenridge, MI
43.408085°N, 84.474998°W 23.3 miles away |
| Tail number | N9807D |
|---|---|
| Accident date | 18 Jul 2017 |
| Aircraft type | Piper Pa 22 |
| Additional details: | None |
The pilot reported that he was practicing short-field, touch and go landings on the private grass airstrip. The final leg of the approach was over a cornfield and a road perpendicular to the approach end of the airstrip.
During final, the main landing gear struck corn stalks that were about 6-feet tall, the airplane landed short and struck the road. The right main landing gear collapsed, and the airplane slid across the road and onto the grass airstrip. The nose of the airplane dug into the grass and dirt, and the airplane nosed over.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right-wing strut and the rudder.
The pilot reported that, "This accident was pilot error" and that, "I believe that I fixated on the beginning of the grass and was oblivious to the height of the corn."
The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
The pilot’s loss of situational awareness during the approach over a corn field, which resulted in collision with corn stalks.