- Date
- April 15, 1993, 09:00 local (14:00 UTC)
- Place
- Elizabethton, TN
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N878DPiper PA-23-250
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 3, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19930415009439A
- Case key
- 8735
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
A loss of engine power on one engine for undetermined reasons.
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
According to the pilot, about twenty minutes into the flight, the left engine began to run rough. The engine also developed an unusual smell and the cylinder head temp was high. After evaluating the situation, the pilot shut down the left engine, changed his destination airport and elected to continue the flight to a more suitable airport for an emergency landing. As the flight continued, altitude became more difficult to maintain. The airplane crashed short of the airport and burst into flames; the pilot escaped from the wreckage before the airplane was completely engulfed. Examination of the wreckage failed to disclose a mechanical problem, because the entire airframe was consumed by fire.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N878D
- Reported as
- Piper PA-23-250
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 27-7754099
- Airframe hours
- 2,684
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540 C485, 250 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Morristown Flying Service
- Registered owner
- Morristown Flying Service
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · January 31, 1993 · 49 hours before
- Departed
- MOR · Morristown, TN
- Destination
- 0A4 · Johnson City, TN
- Airport
- 0A9 · Elizabethon Municipal, runway 6, 4,000 × 75 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
- 47
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,304 total · 792 in this make and model · 2,176 as pilot in command · 37 in the last 90 days · 30 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 14,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- OA9, 1 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.