Piper PA34 N41382

Summary

On 18 August 2020 at about 02:36 local time, a Piper PA34 registered N41382, operated by Upgrade Incorporated, was involved in an accident near Groton, Connecticut, United States. 3 people were on board and 2 had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

18 August 2020 at 02:36

Classification

Accident

Location

Groton, Connecticut, United States

Nearest airport

Groton-New London Airport (GON)

Coordinates

41.3508, -72.0242

Aircraft

Piper PA34

Registration

N41382

Category

Airplane

Year built

1974

Engines

2

Operator

Upgrade Incorporated

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Bangor → Groton

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

ERA20LA287

2 people had minor injuries.

The reported partial loss of right engine power for reasons that could not be determined based on available evidence.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During an instructional flight, the pilot receiving instruction performed several landings at several airports before proceeding to the home base airport where he executed two touch-and go landings and remained in the airport traffic pattern. When abeam the approach end of the landing runway while on the downwind leg of the airport traffic pattern with the landing gear extended and 10° of flaps extended, the receiving instruction began to descend while turning onto the base leg of the airport traffic pattern. The flight instructor stated that at time he heard an engine sputter and verified the engine controls were in the proper position. He heard the engine sputter again and "felt the [airplane] jerk" and stated, "my controls." He maintained airspeed and verified the engine controls were full forward, retracted the flaps but decided to leave the landing gear extended due to the altitude and proximity to the airport. He verified the malfunction to be the right engine and felt it was developing some power, but with less output than the left. He briefly pitched nose down, then nose up, and when he noticed a high descent rate, he feathered the right propeller and placed the right mixture control to idle cutoff. He maneuvered for a forced landing on a street but collided with and remained suspended in the roof of a house. Postaccident examination of both engines, their systems, left propeller, and left propeller governor revealed no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction. There was no evidence or preimpact failure or malfunction of either fuel supply system. While the flight instructor reported he moved the right propeller control to the feather position near the end of the flight, the right propeller blades were on the start locks and not feathered. Functional testing of the right propeller and operational testing of the right propeller governor revealed no preimpact failure or malfunction. Therefore, there was no mechanical reason why the right propeller blades would not feather if commanded before the engine rpm became too low and engaged the propeller start locks.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.