- Date
- July 4, 1991, 08:00 local (12:00 UTC)
- Place
- New Market, VA
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N63817Piper PA-23-250
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 24, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910704025919A
- Case key
- 11689
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
The pilot's inadequate inflight decision that resulted in VFR flight into IMC.
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 was advised during the preflight weather briefing that VFR flight was not recommended. The pilot indicated, during the briefing, that he was going to find an instructor or somebody with an instrument rating to fly him to the intended destination. About two hours later the pilot departed alone; he reported that he planned to either turn around or go to an alternate airport, if the weather en route deteriorated. According to the pilot, he proceeded en route by following a highway. He lost sight of the ground, due to fog, so he turned around, but as he did so, the nose of the airplane pitched down, and as he recovered, he saw trees in the path of the airplane. The pilot stated, 'I decided it was best to put it in the trees.' The pilot said the reason the nose pitched down was from winds around the nearby mountains, possibly causing wind shear, and which his already slower than normal airspeed, it caused him to lose altitude.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N63817
- Reported as
- Piper PA-23-250
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 23-7754139
- Airframe hours
- 1,900
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-C4B5, 250 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- John Root
- Registered owner
- John Root
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 17, 1991 · 117 hours before
- Departed
- SHD · Harrisonburg, VA
- Destination
- HGR · Hagerstown, MD
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
- 63
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 460 total · 290 in this make and model · 400 as pilot in command · 53 in the last 90 days · 25 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 50° at 4 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- 200 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 73 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- CHO, 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.