- Date
- April 5, 1988, 20:35 local (Apr 6, 1988, 00:35 UTC)
- Place
- Manassas, VA
- Injuries
- 4 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N1719JPiper PA-28-140
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report December 6, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880405007479A
- Case key
- 11363
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
The pilot had departed waycross, GA, on the morning of the accident for a cross country flight to Manassas, VA. During the approach into Manassas, the aircraft contacted trees off the approach ends of rwys 34L and 34R. Both rwys were in use at the time and it is unknown which the pilot was attempting to land on. The aircraft stalled into an open field short of the airport between the extended centerlines of the runways. No evidence of mechanical failure or malfunction of the airplane or the engine was found. The VASI lights had been out of service for at least one year prior to the accident. The approaches to runways 34L and 34R were described by pilots familiar with the airport as being like a 'black hole' due to the lack of visual references over the trees and field.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1719J
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-140
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-24131
- Airframe hours
- 1,962
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2A, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Johnnie Q. Herrin
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 19, 1987 · 78 hours before
- Departed
- FVX · Farmville, VA
- Destination
- W10 · Manassas, VA
- Airport
- W10 · Manassas
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
- 60
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 201 total · 187 in this make and model · 150 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days · 11 in the last 30 days · 7 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 210° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- IAD, 13 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.