- Date
- November 19, 1988, 18:15 local (Nov 20, 1988, 00:15 UTC)
- Place
- Union City, TN
- Injuries
- 5 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N27947Piper PA-31-350
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report December 3, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19881119053149A
- Case key
- 7960
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
PIC made two sdf approaches. On the first approach he had difficulty seeing the rwy lights. The acft was aligned left of rwy and a missed approach was made. On the second approach the PIC said he had difficulty picking up any rwy lights. He landed with the nose gear & left main landing gear off the left side of the rwy. The acft touched down when the pilot thought that he was still 15 feet above rwy. Rain obscured the windshield. No approach lights were installed at the airport. The rwy lights would trip the cb if set above 10% illumination; PIC was aware of this problem. The airport was the pic's home base and next nearest airport was 30 NM sw.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N27947
- Reported as
- Piper PA-31-350
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31-7952058
- Airframe hours
- 1,986
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-J2D8, 350 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- James And Vaughn Leasing
- Registered owner
- James & Vaughn Leasing
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · October 3, 1988 · 70 hours before
- Departed
- TYS · Knoxville, TN
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- UCY · Everett-Stewart, runway 1, 5,000 × 100 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
- 68
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,742 total · 835 in this make and model · 2,610 as pilot in command · 43 in the last 90 days · 22 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 40° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 2 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 200 ft broken
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DYR, 30 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.