- Date
- January 11, 1984, 19:25 local (Jan 12, 1984, 00:25 UTC)
- Place
- Basye, VA
- Injuries
- 4 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N36791Piper PA-32RT-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840111001329A
- Case key
- 6245
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Analysis
After the acft landed, slush was observed to have accumulated under the wings & lower aft fuselage & was freezing. The acft was parked with the tail facing the sun, but none of the arpt personnel noticed whether the sun had melted the ice. The plt indicated he would return by 1630, but when the arpt manager was preparing to leave at 1715, the plt had not yet returned. Ice refroze on the rwy. The arpt manager notified the fss & left a message on the phone answering machine that the arpt was closed. Also, to discourage operation on the icy rwy, he did not turn on the rwy lights. The plt returned at 1900 & elected to make a night departure. He reported that during takeoff, the acft lifted off, but would not continue climbing. Shortly thereafter, the acft collided with trees & the roof of a building, then crashed& burned. An exam of the wreckage revealed no evidence of a preimpact mechanical problem. Another plt noted a layer of frost on the leading edge of his acft's wings & elected not to fly. He believed that there was frost on N36791.
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N36791
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32RT-300 (PA-32RT-30)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32R-7885209
- Airframe hours
- 1,430
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-K1G5D, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Flight America, Inc., doing business as Air Virginia, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Douglas R. Bevington
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · November 16, 1983 · 43 hours before
- Departed
- W92
- Destination
- CHO · Charlottesville, VA
- Airport
- W92 · Sky Bryce, runway 23, 2,240 × 50 ft, asphalt
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
- Age
- 33
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 936 total · 32 in this make and model · 841 as pilot in command · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 18 °F, dew point 1 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MRB, 50 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.