Piper PA-34-220T N83809

Summary

On 1 February 1996 at about 04:55 local time, a Piper PA-34-220T registered N83809 was involved in an accident near Estes Park, Colorado, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

1 February 1996 at 04:55

Classification

Accident

Location

Estes Park, Colorado, United States

Coordinates

40.0202, -105.0404

Aircraft

Piper PA-34-220T

Registration

N83809

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Erie → Boise

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Bright

NTSB number

FTW96FA145

1 person died.

Descent into mountainous terrain for reasons undetermined.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot filed an IFR flight plan and made a night departure from Erie, Colorado, en route to Boise, Idaho. After receiving his IFR clearance in flight, he requested a VFR-on-top clearance and 'a vector heading for (Rock Springs, Wyoming)...just to verify...a radar vector heading just to check that...I'm having a little heading problems here, but switching to compass nav, but we're VFR on top. In fact, it's pretty much VFR below us now.' Nine minutes later, radar contact with the airplane was lost. The airplane remained missing for about a month, and the wreckage was not recovered from a mountain side for 7 months. Radar data indicated the airplane descended from an encoded altitude of 15,100 feet to 13,900 feet in 1 minute, 31 seconds, or about 800 feet per minute. No distress call was received. Wreckage examination failed to explain why the airplane descended or anything causal to accident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.