- Date
- November 19, 1982, 14:58 local (19:58 UTC)
- Place
- Culpepper, VA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N555CEPiper PA-24-260
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 19, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19821119059409A
- Case key
- 70384
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
About 16 min after takeoff the plt reported to ARTCC that he had lost the artificial horizon, gyro & vacuum pump. Radio & radar contact was lost shortly thereafter. Examination of the vacuum pump failed to reveal a pre-impact failure or malfunction. The acft was equipped with a Piper altimatic iii autopilot which provides a back-up system entirely independent of both the directional gyro & attitude gyro, & the vacuum system. Should these fail, by disengaging the roll & pitch of the autopilot & placing the toggle switch of the "autoflite" (back-up system) to the on position, the all electric autoflite will take over & control the roll axis of the acft. The acft was also reportedly equipped with an electric turn coordinator or turn & slip indicator.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N555CE
- Reported as
- Piper PA-24-260
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24-4000
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- James T. Furchess, Jr.
- Registered owner
- James T. Furchess, Jr.
- Departed
- C · Woodbridge, VA
- Destination
- C · Lynchburg, VA
- Flight plan
- IFR
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 50° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 2 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 700 ft broken
- Temperature
- 126 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- IAD
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.