N9643K

On September 20, 1997, about 1305 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA28-151, N9643K, crashed on rollout after landing at a private sod landing strip near Bennettsville, South Carolina. The airplane was operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91, and visual flight rules. Visual meteorological conditions existed, and no flight plan was filed for the local, personal flight. The private pilot and one passenger were not injured, and the airplane was substantially damaged.

According to the pilot, he landed at the private airport after "quite a bit of float". The runway had a "hill" in the middle which made it difficult to see the entire runway when landing. As he rolled over the hill, the pilot stated he saw another airplane parked on the runway a short distance ahead. The pilot then applied left rudder in order to avoid the parked airplane. As he passed the other airplane, the Piper's left wing tip struck a hand rail and turned left into a gulch. The airplane came to rest nosed over in the gulch.

According to the FAA inspector, the pilot did not properly plan his approach to landing at the airport.

According to the PA-28-151 owner's manual, the airplane's landing distance on a standard day, at maximum gross weight, with a 50 foot obstacle, and on a asphalt runway should be approximately 1,100 feet. Grass runways generally decrease the landing distance approximately 2-3%. The runway at Stanton was 2,300 feet. According to the pilot, the other airplane was parked about 550 feet from the departure end of the runway.