- Date
- July 2, 1987, 22:00 local (Jul 3, 1987, 02:00 UTC)
- Place
- Liberty, NC
- Injuries
- 5 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N9385CPiper PA-32RT-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report October 25, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19870702037409A
- Case key
- 7475
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
Bfr departing on a ngt flt, the acft was loaded until it was at or near its max gross wt limit. The plt stated that as he was taking off on a 3000' rwy, the eng 'coughed' after the acft had accelerated to about the rotation speed & was aprx 3/4 of the way down the rwy. He elected to abort the takeoff, but was unable to stop on the remaining rwy. Bfr stopping, the acft went down an embankment & the nose gear collapsed. An exam & an opnl check of the eng revealed no pre-acdnt part failure or malfunction, except for a rich idle mixture. About 19 mi nw at greensboro, NC, the wx was: 7000 ft brkn, 15 mi vis, wind from 200 deg at 7 KTS, temp 74, dew point 70, altimeter setting 30.03' hg. According to the acft operator's manual, 840' of paved rwy would have been required to stop. Skid marks were found on the last 500' of the rwy & across 250' of sod before the acft went off the embankment.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9385C
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32RT-300 (PA-32RT-30)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32R7885046
- Airframe hours
- 3,540
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-S1AD, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Causey Aviation Service,Inc.
- Registered owner
- Causey Aviation Service
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · June 22, 1987 · 20 hours before
- Destination
- CRE · No.Myrtle Beach, SC
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- 2A5 · Causey, runway 20, 3,000 × 40 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
- 32
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 618 total · 97 in this make and model · 15 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 200° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 7,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GSO, 19 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.
Other investigations on N9385C · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.