Piper PA28 N80813

Summary

On 7 May 2018 at about 14:43 local time, a Piper PA28 registered N80813, operated by Paris Air Inc, was involved in an accident near Vero Beach, Florida, United States. 2 people were 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

7 May 2018 at 14:43

Classification

Accident

Location

Vero Beach, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Vero Beach Rgnl (VRB)

Coordinates

27.6556, -80.4181

Aircraft

Piper PA28

Registration

N80813

Category

Airplane

Year built

1979

Engines

1

Operator

Paris Air Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Vero Beach → Vero Beach

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA18LA145

Nobody was injured.

Water contamination of the fuel supply, which resulted in a total loss of engine power.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor and student pilot were conducting an instructional flight. As the student turned the airplane from the base leg to the final leg of the traffic pattern, the engine lost total power, so the instructor assumed control of the airplane. He attempted remedial actions to no avail, so he chose to conduct a forced landing to a railroad bed before the approach end of the runway. The airplane landed hard, which resulted in the right main landing gear and nose landing gear separating from the airplane. Fuel drained from the airplane during recovery contained large quantities of water. After recovery, a fresh source of fuel was plumbed into the fuel system, and the engine started and ran smoothly. Given that the engine was successfully test-run with fresh fuel after the accident, it is likely that the loss of engine power was due to water contamination of the fuel supply.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.