Piper PA-31-350 N66892

Summary

On 18 May 1985 at about 00:20 local time, a Piper PA-31-350 registered N66892, operated by Cumberland Airlines, was involved in an accident near Latrobe, Pennsylvania, United States. 7 people were on board and 5 were seriously injured, 2 had minor injuries. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

18 May 1985 at 00:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Latrobe, Pennsylvania, United States

Nearest airport

Westmoreland County (LBE)

Coordinates

40.3109, -79.3802

Aircraft

Piper PA-31-350

Registration

N66892

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Cumberland Airlines

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Pittsburgh → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

NYC85FA125

5 people were seriously injured.

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

DRG AN IFR ARRIVAL, THE ACFT WAS VECTORED FOR AN NDB RWY 23 APCH TO THE WESTMORELAND COUNTY ARPT. AT THE NDB FINAL APCH FIX (8.1 MI FROM THE RWY), THE CREW TURNED INBOUND & CONTD TO THE ARPT. THEY CONTACTED THE TOWER & REPORTED OVER THE ILS OUTER MARKER (AN INTERMEDIATE POINT ON THE NDB FINAL APCH, 3.9 MI FROM THE RWY). THE TOWER ISSUED THE LOCAL LANDING ADVISORIES & CLEARED THE ACFT TO LAND. MOMENTS AFTER THE COPLT ADVISED THE CAPT THAT THEY WERE 15 SEC FROM THE MISSED APCH PT, THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES. IMPACT OCCURRED 3.8 MI SE OF THE ARPT AT THE MIN DSCNT ALT (MDA) OF 1900 FT MSL. AN EXAM OF THE ACFT RECORDS INDICATED A RECURRING & CURRENT SQUAWK CONCERNING THE HSI SLAVING SYS. JUST BEFORE BEGINNINGTHE APCH, THE LATROBE WIND HAD CHANGED FROM 230 DEG AT 4 KTS (A HEADWIND) TO A STRONG QUARTERING TAIL WIND. DRG ARRIVAL THE CREW WERE ADVISED THE WIND WAS FROM 340 DEG AT 18 KTS. THEY HAD FIGURED THEIR TIMING TO THE MISSED APCH PT BY USING A GND SPEED OF 120 KTS. EARLIER THAT DAY, THE SAME CREW & ACFT HAD TERMINATED THE SAME NDB APCH, 1 MI EAST OF THE ARPT.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.