Socata TB-20 N470SP

Summary

On 25 August 2001 at about 11:37 local time, a Socata TB-20 registered N470SP was involved in an accident near Amherst, New Hampshire, 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

25 August 2001 at 11:37

Classification

Accident

Location

Amherst, New Hampshire, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Socata TB-20

Registration

N470SP

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Nashua → Atlantic City

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

IAD01LA100

1 person died.

Suicide, when the pilot intentionally crashed his airplane into his house.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Law enforcement officials issued a restraining order to the pilot at his residence. The pilot was then escorted off the property, which was located in Amherst, New Hampshire. The following morning, the pilot arrived at the airport and asked to have his airplane pulled from the hangar. Before an employee could comply with his request, the pilot pulled the airplane from the hangar himself, preflighted it, and departed. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot asked air traffic control if Amherst was "over by the green water tower." A neighbor heard an airplane flying low over the area, and watched it descend in a steep angle of bank. The neighbor lost site of the airplane, then heard the sound of three impacts. The airplane had collided with the pilot's house, and he sustained fatal injuries. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New Hampshire ruled the pilot's death a suicide.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.