- Date
- January 23, 1992, 04:35 local (09:35 UTC)
- Place
- Columbus, OH
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N8434HPiper PA-34-200T
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report August 31, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920123000919A
- Case key
- 11760
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 NTSB’s determination of the probable cause, and any contributing factors.
Fuel starvation in both engines, due to the pilot's improper positioning of the engine or fuel controls.
Analysis
The pilot stated that after taking off at night, he raised the landing gear, started a turn to the outbound heading and adjusted both propeller controls. He then turned on the overhead light, adjusted the heat by moving both selector levers to the center position, continued climbing and had started to adjust the mixture controls, when ATC gave him a frequency change. At that time, both engines lost power without warning. He declared an emergency and tried to restart the engines, but was unable. He said he then 'cut' the mixture controls and made an emergency wheels up landing in a field. The airplane was substantially damaged. An investigation showed there was sufficient fuel with no contaminates. Fuel flow was established from the fuel tank(s) to the fuel control unit(s) by using the electric fuel pump. The left engine was started and test run with no anomalies noted. The right engine could not be run due to its unsafe condition, but an exam of the engine revealed no anomalies.
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8434H
- Reported as
- Piper PA-34-200T
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 34-8133219
- Airframe hours
- 2,757
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-360-KB3, 220 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Central Skyport
- Registered owner
- Tech-Air, Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 16, 1992 · 2 hours before
- Destination
- MNN · Marion, OH
- Flight plan
- IFR
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
- 48
- 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
- 899 total · 38 in this make and model · 586 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 180° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 8,500 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 46 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
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 N8434H · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.