The pilot reported, that while departing from the runway at the airport in Nixon, Pennsylvania, the right cockpit door of the Cirrus SR20 opened.
He was unable to close the door, so he decided to return to the airport to close the door on the ground.
While on final approach and near the runway, he thought he heard the stall warning horn, so he immediately flared the airplane to land. The airplane bounced twice on the runway, so he attempted to abort the landing by advancing the throttle. The airplane veered to the left, exited the runway, and the pilot reduced the throttle in an attempt to maintain directional control.
The plane struck the runway’s precision approach path indicator before coming to rest in a ditch. The airplane’s firewall was substantially damaged.
Following the accident, the pilot told investigators, “In hindsight I don’t think the sound I heard was the stall warning horn, but rather the sound squealing through the partially open door, which confused me into thinking the aircraft had stalled.”
Given this information, it is likely that the pilot was distracted by the open right door during the landing, which contributed to his loss of control during the landing attempt.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control while landing, resulting in a runway excursion. Contributing to the outcome was the pilot’s failure to ensure that the airplane’s right side door was properly secured prior to departing on the accident flight, and his subsequent distraction due to the door during the landing attempt.
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This August 2022 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
I guess not all Cirrus pilots pull the chute. Seems similar damage to the aircraft resulted, maybe he should have pulled the chute!
Wow!! he thought he heard the stall warning so he flared? What kind of flying is that? Why not look out the window and flare when you need to be flaring?
When pilots panic and become distracted, bad things happen.
Would pilots get it through their heads that any door on a plane can be open! If you fly with me I will open it! Yes it may disturb the airflow over the tail, but it’s still fly able. Yes the yoke will jiggle some, but add 10kts to approach and leave the door alone. I can’t count all the dead pilots who focused on the door and not on flying the plane! There is a meth out there that some airplanes won’t fly with the door open and that is totally BS!!!
Meth?
I believe he meant “myth, but yes, if you do enough meth, you’re probably going to crash, too.
Spell check: myth.