According to the pilot, he had completed an uneventful touch-and-go landing on runway 29 using an approach speed of 67 knots. On the second touch-and-go landing, he used an approach speed of 70 knots. He stated that the airplane's airspeed was stable around the pattern. However, just short of the runway, at approximately 30 feet agl, he encountered a slight "burble." He initiated full power, and when he dropped the nose of the airplane a few degrees, he encountered a second "burble." The pilot stated that "the airplane literally fell out of the sky" and struck the runway. The impact with the runway separated the right main landing gear and the separated right main landing gear struck the right horizontal stabilizer. The nose landing gear collapsed, the right wing tip and propeller struck the runway, and the airplane slid approximately 150 feet. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing spar and the right horizontal stabilizer. The reported weather conditions at 1553 and 1604, indicated a shift in wind, from 310 degrees at 5 knots to 280 degrees at 8 knots respectively.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:

Index for Oct2003 | Index of months