Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn February 2, 2020, about 1355 mountain daylight time, a Piper PA28-150 airplane, N5969W, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Florence, Colorado. The flight instructor and one passenger were seriously injured, and one passenger was fatally injured. The airplane was operated under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as an instructional flight.

The flight was a second exploration flight for the passenger seated in the front left seat. The brother of that person was seated in the aft right seat, and the flight instructor was seated in the front right seat. The flight instructor reported that he rotated the airplane using about 2,000 ft of the 5,399-ft-long runway. The airplane climbed and then settled back down to the runway. About 2,500 ft down the runway, the flight instructor rotated the airplane again and entered ground effect. He did not recall the climbout but remembered that he flew a 180° turn to land on runway 11. The airplane descended and impacted rolling terrain about 1,000 ft southwest of the departure end of runway 29.

An eyewitness saw the accident airplane depart from about midfield. He recalled that the airplane sounded as if it were making the expected power but that the subsequent climb was “anemic.”
PERSONNEL INFORMATIONThe flight instructor purchased the airplane on December 31, 2019, about 1 month before the accident. In addition to logging flight time in the accident airplane the flight instructor had logged time in Cessna 210-5A, Piper PA28-180, and Cessna 182T airplanes.
AIRCRAFT INFORMATIONAccording to the most recent weight and balance information, the accident airplane was operated about 100 pounds below maximum gross weight.
METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATIONThe calculated density altitude at the airport was 7,931 ft.

At the time of the accident, the weather observation at the airport indicated a temperature of 24ºC/75ºF. According to the flight instructor, it was the highest temperature at 1V6 since his purchase of the accident airplane. The recorded dewpoint was -15ºC/5 ºF and the barometric pressure was 29.78 in of mercury. Using the Koch Chart located in the Federal Aviation Administration’s Density Altitude document, the airplane would be expected to experience a takeoff distance increase of 140% and a climb performance reduction of 65%.
AIRPORT INFORMATIONAccording to the most recent weight and balance information, the accident airplane was operated about 100 pounds below maximum gross weight.
WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION
Figure 1 Accident Site Plots

The initial impact point was determined to be scuffing along the ground that went up an embankment along a 125° magnetic heading. The airplane came to rest upright on a 347° magnetic heading. The left wing had separated and was broken in several locations. The leftwing fuel tank was breached but contained some fuel. The right wing remained attached to the airplane, and the fuel tank conta