Piper PA 28R-200 N2806R

Summary

On 31 December 2016 at about 23:45 local time, a Piper PA 28R-200 registered N2806R was involved in an accident near Vienna, Illinois, 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

31 December 2016 at 23:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Vienna, Illinois, United States

Coordinates

37.3542, -88.8114

Aircraft

Piper PA 28R-200

Registration

N2806R

Category

Airplane

Year built

1969

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Pella → Nashville

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

CEN17FA064

4 people died.

The non-instrument rated pilot's decision to descend through an overcast layer of weather during dark night conditions, which resulted in the airplane impacting trees.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The non-instrument rated commercial pilot departed on a cross-country flight in his high performance airplane. There was no record of the pilot receiving an official preflight weather briefing. However, the pilot may have obtained text weather information from a weather service while enroute. Images taken during the flight showed the airplane flying above an overcast cloud layer. Review of satellite imagery indicated that the overcast layer covered the area near the accident site and continued to the intended destination. Marginal visual to instrument meteorological conditions were reported near the accident site about the time of the accident. The investigation could not determine if there were breaks in the low overcast or how the pilot got below the overcast. However, a witness saw the airplane flying at a very low altitude and reported dark night conditions were present. The witness subsequently heard a loud crash, which he thought was the airplane, and called 9-1-1. The airplane was not on fire in flight and he did not see any subsequent fire or explosion. The smell of fuel was present in the area, which led emergency responders to the wreckage within a wooded area. The wreckage path through the woods was a nearly straight 150-ft descending path. Linear separations of tree branches and the S-shaped bending of a propeller blade were consistent with the engine producing power at impact. A postaccident examination of the wreckage did not reveal any preimpact anomalies that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.