FAA incident report · Piper PA-31-310 · Watford City, ND · December 11, 2012
From the FAA’s Accident/Incident Data System (AIDS), through its Aviation Safety Information Portal, as reported. The NTSB investigates accidents separately, and its record of an accident is the fuller one. The aircraft is matched to the registry 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.
The FAA’s narrative, in sentence case. The FAA writes it in capitals and removes private details.
A small flame with a lot of smoke came from the auto-pilot control unit on the lower part of the throttle quadrant. Aircraft landed without incident, no injuries.
A SMALL FLAME WITH A LOT OF SMOKE CAME FROM THE AUTO-PILOT CONTROL UNIT ON THE LOWER PART OF THE THROTTLE QUADRANT. AIRCRAFT LANDED WITHOUT INCIDENT, NO INJURIES.