Piper PA-28-180 N5170S

Summary

On 30 May 1983 at about 22:00 local time, a Piper PA-28-180 registered N5170S, operated by ROY Williams, was involved in an accident near Haskell, Texas, United States. 5 people were on board and 5 died. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

30 May 1983 at 22:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Haskell, Texas, United States

Coordinates

33.1495, -99.7308

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-180

Registration

N5170S

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

ROY Williams

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Graford → Seagraves

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW83FA254

5 people died.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

THE ACFT CRASHED WHILE ON A FLT IN AN AREA WHERE THUNDERSTORM WARNINGS WERE IN EFFECT. THERE WERE NO KNOWN WITNESSES TO THE ACTUAL CRASH, BUT 2 OR 3 LOCAL RESIDENTS HEARD AN ACFT ENG AT ABOUT THE ESTIMATED TIME OF THE ACCIDENT. ONE RESIDENT ABOUT 1/4 MI FROM THE CRASH SITE STATED THAT HE HEARD THE ENG APRX 5 MIN AFTER A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM BEGAN. HE STATED THAT ABOUT 2 INCHES OF RAIN FELL IN 20 MIN, VISIBILITY WAS RESTRICTED & THERE WAS 'VERY HI WINDS.' A LOCAL RADIO STATION AT HASKELL, TX RECORDED WINDS OF 54 MPH DURING THE THUNDERSTORM. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE ACFT'S RIGHT WING & BOTH HORIZONTAL STABILATORS HAD SEPARATED IN FLT, THEN THE ACFT CRASHED IN A 70 TO 80 DEG NOSE DOWN, INVERTED, LEFT WING LOW ATTITUDE WHILE AT A HI RATE OF SPEED. THE WING & STABILATOR FAILURES WERE INDICATIVE OF OVERLOAD SEPARATION. ONE OF THE 5 OCCUPANTS IN THE 4 PLACE ACFT WAS A BABY.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.