Piper PA-31-350 N615SN

Summary

On 20 June 2005 at about 16:05 local time, a Piper PA-31-350 registered N615SN, operated by Dana Lake, was involved in an accident near Beverly, Massachusetts, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

20 June 2005 at 16:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Beverly, Massachusetts, United States

Nearest airport

Beverly Municipal Airport (BVY)

Coordinates

42.5842, -70.9164

Aircraft

Piper PA-31-350

Registration

N615SN

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Dana Lake

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Flight Test

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Beverly → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC05LA103

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to attain the proper touchdown point while conducting a precautionary landing. A factor was the partial loss of power to one engine for undetermined reasons.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was test flying the airplane after recent maintenance was performed on the engines. During initial climbout, the left engine began to surge, and most of its power was lost. The air traffic control tower radioed to the pilot that heavy black smoke was trailing from the left engine, and that he was cleared to return to the airport. The pilot initiated a left turn, and continued to climb to approximately 600 feet. He then initiated a "short approach" back to the airport because he believed that the left engine might have been on fire. The airplane touched down "hard" in a grass area to the right of the runway, rolled across a taxiway, and sheared off the landing gear, before coming to rest. The pilot additionally stated on the NTSB Form 6120.1/2, Recommendation (How Could This Accident Have Been Prevented), "Possibly more single engine training, and on a regular basis to stay more proficient." After the accident, the left engine was examined and test run, with no abnormalities noted.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.