# Accident 19980920025389A: Piper PA60600, North Myrtle Be, SC, September 20, 1998 - Type: FAA accident report (Accident/Incident Data System), as reported - Date: September 20, 1998, 14:31 local time - Place: North Myrtle Be, SC - Airport: Grand Strand - Damage: Destroyed - Phase of flight: Takeoff Ground Roll - Operating rules: General operating rules (Part 91) - Location: 33.7706° N, 78.7792° W: From the FAA, an estimate near the named town, within about 3 miles - Nearby events: https://openairdocs.org/map.md?lat=33.7706&lon=-78.7792&mi=10 - Aircraft: N17MT, a cancelled registration (https://openairdocs.org/deregistered/N17MT-2018-01-11) (OpenAirDocs) - Registry model: Piper AEROSTAR 600 (registry code 7106001, https://openairdocs.org/model/piper-aerostar-600) (OpenAirDocs) - Registry engine: Lycoming IO-540 series (registry code 41530, https://openairdocs.org/engine/lycoming-io-540-series) (OpenAirDocs) - Reported make and model: PIPER PA60600 - Reported engine: LYC IO540K1J5 - People aboard: 4 - Fatal injuries: 5 - Pilot flight hours: 1,321 total, 474 in this make and model, 15 in the last 90 days - NTSB investigation: [NTSB MIA98FA250](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/MIA98FA250) (OpenAirDocs) - FAA source: FAA Aviation Safety Information Portal (https://asip.faa.gov/) - Page: https://openairdocs.org/incident/19980920025389A ## Narrative As the FAA filed it, in capitals; the FAA replaces private details with ^PRIVACY DATA OMITTED^. ACFT TOOK OFF FROM RWY 23 AND A CONTROLLER ADVISED THE PILOT THAT THE RIGHT ENGINE WAS SMOKING, THE PILOT ADVISED THE CONTROLLER THAT HE WAS RETURNING TO LAND THE ACFT, THE CONTROLLER CLEARED THE ACFT TO LAND, BUT THE ACFT CRASHED BEFORE REACHING THE ARPT. ALL 4 POB SUFFERED FATAL INJ. (.23)THE AIRCRAFT CRASHED SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF FROM GRAND STRAND AIRPORT, NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC. THE AIRCRAFT WAS DESTROYED BY IMPACT AND POST CRASH FIRE. VFR CONDITIONS PREVAILED AT TIME OF CRASH. PILOT AND THREE PASSENGERS FATALLY INJURED. ONE INDIVIDUAL ON GROUND ALSO FATALLY INJURED. SMOKE WAS REPORTED COMING FROM FROM RIGHT ENGINE SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF. PILOT WAS ATTEMPTING TO RETURN TO AIRPORT AT THE TIME OF ACCIDENT. PILOT DID NOT DECLARE EMERGENCY PRIOR TO CRASH. EXAMINATION AT CRASH SITE DID NOT REVEAL ANY POSITIVE CAUSE FOR CRASH. LEFT AND RIGHT ENGINE DID NOT REVEAL ANY APPARENT FAILURES. PARTIALLY DISASSEMBLED ENGINES TO PREFORM COMPRESSION CHECK. RIGHT ENGINE FORWARDED FOR RUNUP. AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE RECORD, NOT LOCATED FOR EXAMINATION. MAY HAVE BEEN DESTROYED IN POST CRASH FIRE. ATTEMPTING TO LOCATE MISSING RECORDS. THIS IS AN INTERM REPORT AND WILL BE AMENDED AS INFOR MATION BECOMES AVAILABLE. (.4) AFTER TAKEOFF WHILE OVER THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY, DEEP GRAY COLORED SMOKE WAS OBSERVED BY THE TOWER CONTROLLER TRAILING THE RIGHT ENGINE. THE PILOT WAS ALERTED OF THIS AND ADVISED THE CONTROLLER THE FLIGHT WAS RETURNING. WITNESSES REPORTED SEEING SMOKE TRAILING THE RIGHT ENGINE AND THAT THE AIRPLANE ROLLED TO THE LEFT, PITCHED NOSE DOWN, THEN IMPACTED TREES THEN THE GROUND. A FATIGUE CRACK WAS DETECTED IN THE EXHAUST AFT OF THE NO. 6 CYLINDER OF THE RIGHT ENGINE; AND INCOMPLETE FUSION OF A WELD REPAIR WAS ALSO NOTED. HEAT DAMAGED COMPONENTS FROM THE RIGHT ENGINE WERE REPLACED AND THE ENGINE WAS STARTED AND FOUND TO OPERATE NORMALLY. A FOREIGN OBJECT OF UNDETERMINED ORIGIN WAS FOUND IN THE INTAKE AREA OF THE NO. 3 CYLINDER. ANALYSIS OF THE VOICE TAPE REVEALED BOTH ENGINES/PROPELLERS WERE OPERATING NEAR FULL RATED RPM WHEN THE PILOT ACKNOWLEDGED THE TRANSMISSION THAT SMOKE WAS TRAILING THE RIGHT ENGINE, ONE ENGINE/PROPELLER RPM DECREASED TO ABOUT 2,160 RPM. EXAMINATION OF THE FLIGHT CONTROLS REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF PREIMPACT FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION. FLAP POSITIONS AT IMPACT COULD NOT BE DETERMINED. CALCULATIONS INDICATE THAT THE AIRPLANE WAS APPROXIMATELY 55 POUNDS OVER THE MAXIMUM CERTIFICATED TAKEOFF WEIGHT AT TAKEOFF. ## 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 MIA98FA250](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/MIA98FA250), Sep 20, 1998: Piper Aerostar 600 (N17MT), N. Myrtle Beach, SC, destroyed, 5 fatal. Probable cause: The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed (Vs) during a single engine approach resulting in an inadvertent stall. Factors contributing to the accident were a fatigue crack in the exhaust pipe in the… 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. --- OpenAirDocs.org is an independent research project of [Contrail Labs](https://contraillabs.com/). It is not affiliated with the FAA or the NTSB. Source documents are U.S. government works in the public domain.