Piper PA-28-140 N7337J accident near Anadarko, Oklahoma

Probable cause

The pilot’s use of excessive bank angle while maneuvering in the airport traffic pattern, which resulted in an accelerated stall.

NTSB analysis

A witness reported that on the pilot’s first attempt to land, the airplane bounced and landed partially off the runway surface. The pilot aborted the landing and entered the traffic pattern to land again. When the airplane turned from the base leg of the traffic pattern to final, the airplane increased its bank angle to near 90 degrees. The airplane descended rapidly and impacted terrain. The prevailing wind, while relatively light, would have resulted in a tailwind during the base leg of the traffic pattern. If a pilot does not compensate for such wind conditions, that pilot could overshoot the turn from the base leg to final. A postimpact examination of the airplane did not find any anomalies which would have precluded the normal operation of the airplane. The circumstances of the accident are consistent with the pilot increasing the airplane’s bank angle to correct for overshooting the turn from base to final approach, resulting in an accelerated stall.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN13FA051 for the full record.