# Accident 19950818025499A: Piper PA31350, Ardoch, ND, August 18, 1995

- Type: FAA accident report (Accident/Incident Data System), as reported
- Date: August 18, 1995, 16:42 local time
- Place: Ardoch, ND
- Damage: Destroyed
- Phase of flight: Descent
- Operating rules: General operating rules (Part 91)
- Location: 48.2054° N, 97.3380° W: Placed by OpenAirDocs: center of Ardoch, ND, within about 6 miles (OpenAirDocs)
- Nearby events: https://openairdocs.org/map.md?lat=48.2054&lon=-97.3380&mi=10
- Aircraft: N85115, a cancelled registration (https://openairdocs.org/deregistered/N85115-1996-04-09) (OpenAirDocs)
- Registry model: Piper PA-31-350 (registry code 7103110, https://openairdocs.org/model/piper-pa-31-350) (OpenAirDocs)
- Reported make and model: PIPER PA31350
- Reported engine: LYC TIO540J2BD
- People aboard: 2
- Fatal injuries: 2
- Pilot flight hours: 40,000 total
- NTSB investigation: [NTSB CHI95FA285](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/CHI95FA285) (OpenAirDocs)
- FAA source: FAA Aviation Safety Information Portal (https://asip.faa.gov/)
- Page: https://openairdocs.org/incident/19950818025499A

## Narrative

As the FAA filed it, in capitals; the FAA replaces private details with ^PRIVACY DATA OMITTED^.

DROPPED PASSENGERS. DEPARTES SANS WEATHER CHECK. FLEW INTO THUNDERSTORM. LOST CONTROL. IMPACTED TREES AND BURNED. (-23) AIRCRAFT AS ON A VFR PART 91 FLIGHT AFTER DROPPING PASSENGERS AT THIEF RIVER FALLS, MN. AIRCRAFT WAS ENROUTE TO MINOT, ND. A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS APPROXIMATELY 75 MILES LONG WAS BETWEEN AIRCRAFT AND DESTINATION. WITNESSES OBSERVED AIRCRAFT WESTBOUND AT LOW ALTITUDE FLYING TOWARD AREA OF DETERIORATING WEATHER, THUNDERSTORMS, AND GUSTY WINDS. AIRCRAFT APPEARED TO WITNESSES AS TRYING TO FLY UNDER APPROACHING LOW CLOUDS WHICH REACHED ALMOST TO THE GROUND. ONE WITNESS OBSERVED THE AIRCRAFT AT A LOW ALTITUDE CROSSING OVER THE FREEWAY AND A FEW SECONDS LATER OBSERVED A FIREBALL.

## The NTSB's investigation of this event (1)

From the NTSB's public API. Aircraft are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported serial number, make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.

- [NTSB CHI95FA285](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/CHI95FA285), Aug 18, 1995: Piper PA-31-350 (N85115), Ardoch, ND, destroyed, 2 fatal. Probable cause: the pilot-in-command's continuing flight into adverse weather. Factors were the pilot-in-command's failure to obtain a weather observation and the adverse weather.

From the FAA Accident/Incident Data System. Reports are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model. For accidents, the NTSB's own investigation is the fuller record.

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