Piper PA-24-260 N9073P

Summary

On 18 December 2006 at about 00:02 local time, a Piper PA-24-260 registered N9073P was involved in an accident near Bucyrus, Ohio, United States. 4 people were on board and 4 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

18 December 2006 at 00:02

Classification

Accident

Location

Bucyrus, Ohio, United States

Coordinates

40.7917, -82.9800

Aircraft

Piper PA-24-260

Registration

N9073P

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Tulsa → Belfast

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

CHI07FA041

4 people died.

The inadvertent stall the pilot encountered during cruise flight while inadvertently entering an area of icing and his exceeding the design limits of the airplane during the subsequent descent. Factors were the reported icing weather present aloft, the airplane not equipped with a deicing system, and the moonless night conditions.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane was destroyed on impact with terrain following a descent from cruise. An in-flight break up occurred during the descent. Night visual meteorological surface conditions prevailed in the area at the time of the accident. No flight plan was on file. The pilot had received a weather brief from a Direct User Access Terminal Service (DUATS) for the flight. Radar data showed the airplane was on a northeast heading. At 1902:14.0, the airplane's radar return showed the airplane was about one mile southwest of the accident site at 11,600 feet above mean sea level (MSL). At 1902:18.8, it was at 10,700 feet MSL. At 1902:23.6, it was at 9,800 feet MSL. At 1902:32.7, it was at 7,300 feet MSL. A witness who lived within 300 feet of the crash site stated, "I heard ... something coming [through] this complex that was out of control (real fast) a lot of rumbling (loud whizzing/roaring sounds) then all of a sudden I heard a[n] engine sound like it was at full throttle wide open, then an explosion/impact." A second witness stated, "We heard a really loud noise above us. We were looking up at the plane as we heard the noise, and then we saw lights on the plane start spiraling down. We watched it spiral to the ground and it crashed. The ground shook and [debris] starting flying around us." The pilot was not instrument current. The airplane's stalling speed at gross weight with flaps and landing gear up was 75 mph and its top speed was 194 mph. A pilot near the area reported that the cloud tops were at 11,300 feet above mean sea level and that he encountered moderate rime icing. The moon was below the horizon. Continuous Data Recording (CDR), which is airplane radar track data, was plotted on Doppler weather radar base reflectivity depictions. That plotted data showed that the airplane cruised along an area of weather aloft consistent with moisture and temperatures below freezing. Calculated speed plots from the CDR data showed that the airplane was cruising at an airspeed of about 95 -100 knots before decreasing to 78 - 80 knots just prior to the beginning of the high rate of descent. A review of the speed plots showed that the airplane's airspeed had increased to about 225 knots at the last radar return. An airplane owner reported the accident pilot stated that he routinely flew at 10,500 and 11,500 feet MSL and that he avoided using air traffic control flight following services. No pre-impact anomalies were detected during an on-scene investigation of the airplane wreckage.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.