Piper J3C-65 N42383

Summary

On 15 April 2000 at about 18:00 local time, a Piper J3C-65 registered N42383 was involved in an accident near Lanconia, New Hampshire, United States. 2 people were on board and one died, one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

15 April 2000 at 18:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Lanconia, New Hampshire, United States

Nearest airport

None (NONE)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Piper J3C-65

Registration

N42383

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC00LA113

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed, which resulted in an inadvertent stall.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane took off towards the south, climbed to 50-100 feet, just over the tree line, and began a circling turn to the right. The airplane completed 360 degrees of the turn, and was 10-15 degrees nose high, when the nose dropped and the airplane descended at a 60 degree nose down attitude. Examination of the engine did not reveal any mechanical deficiencies. Examination of the propeller revealed that one blade was broken aft in the opposite direction of rotation, and one blade was broken straight back towards the engine. A sample of fuel was drained from the airplane's fuel strainer bowl after the accident; it was green in color, cloudy, and resembled 'muddy water.' The fuel also contained unidentified debris. The airplane was last fueled with 9 gallons of 100LL aviation gasoline on October 17, 1999, and there was no record of it being flown since that date.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.