- Date
- January 2, 1983, 10:28 local (15:28 UTC)
- Place
- Beaufort, SC
- Injuries
- 3 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N8066PPiper PA-24-250
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830102000239A
- Case key
- 5883
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
While en route in IMC, the ATC controller noted that the acft began to reverse course & asked the plt if he was having a problem. The plt responded that the acft was in clouds, he was having problem with his artificial horizon & that he didn't realize he was in a turn. Subsequently, he reported failures of the artificial horizon & autopilot, and said he was using needle, ball & airspeed. The controller provided gyro out procedures, but the plt was unable to maintain an altitude & heading. Also, wx thru-out the area consisted of low ceilings & clouds to above 18,000 ft. the plt was advised the best wx around was at chattanooga, TN, which had 1300 scattered, 2000 ft overcast, visibility 3 mi with light rain & fog. Shortly after that, radio & radar contact were lost. Parts of the acft was found in the combhee river. The right wing was found about 1000 ft from the river. The vacuum pump, eng, turn & bank indicator and several other items were recovered from the river, but no malfunction or failure of these was found.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8066P
- Reported as
- Piper PA-24-250
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24-3313
- Airframe hours
- 4,814
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-A1D5, 250 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Donald J. Humke
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · March 29, 1982
- Departed
- FMY · Ft. Meyer, FL
- Destination
- Wilmington, NC
- 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 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,058 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 350° at 6 knots, gusting 13
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 400 ft broken
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- NBC, 12 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.