Piper PA-32R-301 N396HP

Summary

On 3 January 2004 at about 00:15 local time, a Piper PA-32R-301 registered N396HP, operated by Rodney Dean Anderson, was involved in an accident near Beaumont, Texas, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

3 January 2004 at 00:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Beaumont, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Beaumont Municipal Airport (BMT)

Coordinates

30.0706, -94.2158

Aircraft

Piper PA-32R-301

Registration

N396HP

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Rodney Dean Anderson

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Beaumont → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

FTW04FA054

2 people died.

The flight instructor's failure to maintain clearance with a static line. Contributing factors were the low cloud ceiling weather conditions and night light conditions.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During a night instrument approach, the 13,350-hour flight instructor reported the runway in sight, and cancelled instrument flight rules clearance. Subsequently, the airplane struck a shielded static wire above high voltage transmission lines approximately 52-63 feet in height, before impacting terrain and coming to rest approximately 0.6 nautical miles north of the runway. Air Route Traffic Control had previously reported weather at another airport approximately 13 miles away to be 100 feet overcast with one mile visibility. No mechanical anomalies were noted with the airplane or engine during the course of the investigation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.