Piper PA-12 N91901

Summary

On 2 September 1999 at about 00:40 local time, a Piper PA-12 registered N91901 was involved in an accident near Neguanee, Michigan, 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

2 September 1999 at 00:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Neguanee, Michigan, United States

Coordinates

46.4908, -87.5903

Aircraft

Piper PA-12

Registration

N91901

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Marquette → Dead River Lake

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

CHI99FA332

1 person died.

the pilot failed to maintain clearance from the tower.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The floatplane impacted a microwave tower at 2040 edt while maneuvering 1/4 mile from the lake where it typically landed. Official sunset was 2030 and the sun's azimuth was 283 degrees. The pilot had 'Defective distant vision, right eye, 20/60, uncorrectable.' A witness reported, 'It appeared as though he was doing a circle back towards his house-a routine I had seen him do many times before. This time ... he seemed to be flying much lower, closer to the trees, than usual. The witness reported, 'He appeared to have circled around again, and this time the engine was revved up considerably higher. Again, his flight was uncharacteristically low. I wondered whether it was [the pilot] flying the plane because I'd never seen him fly like this before.' He reported, 'I went into the house and within a few minutes I heard what sounded like a rifle blast.' The left pontoon was located about 46 feet from the base of the tower. It exhibited cable scratching and crushing and bending of its main strut. The main wreckage was located about 120 feet from the base of the tower. The inspection revealed no airframe or engine pre-impact anomalies. The propeller exhibited chordwise scratching, leading edge gouging, 'S' bending, and blade tip curl. The side lights on the tower were observed operating the night of the accident after the airplane had impacted the tower.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.