Piper PA-18A-150 N7198D

Summary

On 9 October 1997 at about 16:20 local time, a Piper PA-18A-150 registered N7198D was involved in an accident near Gulf of Mexico. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

9 October 1997 at 16:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Gulf of Mexico

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Piper PA-18A-150

Registration

N7198D

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Positioning

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Cancun → Key West

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

MIA98LA008

Nobody was injured.

loss of engine power for undetermined reason(s), which resulted in a forced landing (ditching) at sea.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot stated the weather was 'good' for most of the flight; however, he encountered some isolated showers, and had to descend from 5,000 to 2,500 to maintain VFR conditions. Also, he had to deviate from his route about 5 nautical miles, and had encountered a wind from the north of 45 mph for about 20 nautical miles. He stated that he was 3 hours 45 minutes into the flight and 120 nautical miles from his destination when the airplane's engine lost power. The pilot could not contact ATC by radio directly, so he relayed information via another airplane that he was having engine problems. ATC radar identified his location as being 100 nautical miles from Key West. While descending to ditch in the water, the engine restarted, and the pilot was able to climb to 4,500 feet, but was not able to maintain altitude. He flew for about another 40 nautical miles until he saw a military airplane flying in circles and a freighter on the surface. He ditched in the water, the freighter passed him by, and the military airplane kept circling. He got into his raft, the airplane sank, and after about 20 minutes, the pilot was rescued by a United States Coast Guard aircraft about 60 nautical miles from Key West. The airplane was never recovered. The winds at Key West about the time of the accident were from 080 degrees at 9 gusting 18 knots.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.