Primary finding
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain a safe distance between the airplane and a person on the ground, which resulted in serious injuries to the person.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
When the private pilot taxied the airplane to park, he was taxiing past his friend, who was using a camera to record the airplane. The pilot felt a thump and could not see his friend, so he turned the airplane around and saw his friend lying on the ground. The friend sustained serious injuries. The airplane sustained damage to the left wingtip. Weather at the time of the accident was a clear sky with no restrictions to visibility.
Source record
Factual narrative
On June 8, 2017, about 0900 central daylight time, a Piper PA-28-235 airplane, N3082T, struck a person while taxiing at a private airstrip near Harrisonville, Missouri. The private pilot was not injured, and a pilot-rated pedestrian was seriously injured. The airplane was registered to and operated by a private individual under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated without a flight plan. The flight originated from the Lawrence Smith Memorial Airport (KLRY), Harrisonville, Missouri, and the airplane landed on a private airstrip about 4 miles southwest of KLRY.According to information obtained by the responding Federal Aviation Administration inspector and sheriff's deputy, when the pilot taxied the airplane to park, he was taxiing past his friend (the pilot-rated pedestrian) who was using a camera to record the airplane. He felt a thump and could not see his friend, so he turned the airplane around and saw his friend laying on the ground. The friend was transported to the hospital. The airplane had damage to the left wingtip. An automated weather reporting facility near the accident site reported a clear sky with no restrictions to visibility. An NTSB Form 6120 was not submitted by the pilot.