Piper PA-28-140 N8801N

Summary

On 23 July 2002 at about 22:00 local time, a Piper PA-28-140 registered N8801N was involved in an accident near Kneeland, California, 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

23 July 2002 at 22:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Kneeland, California, United States

Nearest airport

Arcata (ACV)

Coordinates

40.8158, -123.9908

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-140

Registration

N8801N

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Kneeland → Arcata/Eureka

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX02FA234

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain clearance with the trees while executing an instrument approach. Contributing factors were the clouds and obscuration weather conditions.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot landed at an airport (elev. 2,737 feet msl), which was located 17.5 nm southeast of his destination airport, prior to proceeding to final destination. While at the forestry facility, the pilot contacted a fellow company pilot, who was located at the destination airport, for a report on the weather conditions. According to various weather reports, at the destination airport (elev. 218 feet msl) the cloud bases were at 1,100 feet agl and cloud tops at 3,000 feet agl. Shortly after departure from the airport, the pilot was cleared by air traffic control (ATC) for an ILS approach to the destination airport's runway 32. For unknown reasons, the pilot cancelled the approach and requested to hold at a fix until he could be cleared for another approach. Approximately 16 minutes later, the pilot was cleared for another ILS approach to runway 32. ATC instructed the pilot to cancel his IFR clearance after landing, the pilot acknowledged the request, and that was the last communication from the pilot to ATC. The airplane impacted several trees, came to rest inverted on a 45-degree sloped ridge, and was destroyed by a post-impact fire. Two separated sections of the left wing were located wrapped around near the tops of 125-foot trees. The wreckage energy path measured approximately 300-feet in length on a measured magnetic heading of 190 degrees. During examination of the wreckage, no aircraft or engine anomalies were noted that would have prevented normal operations.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.