Piper PA-24-260 N8675P

Summary

On 21 November 2010, a Piper PA-24-260 registered N8675P, operated by Four Wins LLC, was involved in an accident near Norfolk, Nebraska, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

21 November 2010

Classification

Accident

Location

Norfolk, Nebraska, United States

Coordinates

42.0383, -97.2003

Aircraft

Piper PA-24-260

Registration

N8675P

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Four Wins LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Chamberlain → Omaha

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

CEN11FA079

2 people died.

The pilot’s decision to continue the flight into instrumental meteorological conditions which resulted in a collision with a tree.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The non-instrument rated pilot and passenger departed on a night cross-country flight. When the airplane did not show up at its destination, a search was initiated. The following evening, the airplane wreckage was located in an open field. A local resident near the accident site reported that she saw an airplane flying really low, at night. She added, that at the time she saw the airplane, the weather was misty and cold. Around the time the witness saw the airplane, the automated weather reporting station, located about 12.5 miles from the accident site, reported a cloud ceiling at 700 feet mean sea level. The airplane collided with the top of a tree, located along a tree line that crossed the airplane's flight path. A postaccident examination did not disclose any evidence of a pre-impact mechanical malfunction. The accident information is consistent with a non-instrument rated pilot trying to fly beneath the clouds at low altitude, at night, in marginal weather conditions. Due to the night and instrument meteorological conditions the pilot most likely would not have been able to see and avoid the tree; the impact and subsequent ground collision were consistent with a controlled flight into terrain event.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.