- Date
- July 29, 1984, 21:52 local (Jul 30, 1984, 03:52 UTC)
- Place
- Park Valley, UT
- Injuries
- 4 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N8445FPiper PA-28-181
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840729035639A
- Case key
- 16233
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.
Loss of control - in flight
Light condition - dark nightFactor
Judgment - poorCause
Airspeed - not maintainedCause
Altitude - not maintainedCause
TotalFactor
Lack of total instrument timeFactor
Visual/aural detectionFactor
Spatial disorientationFactor
In flight collision with terrain/water
Terrain condition - mountainous/hilly
Analysis
Newly certificated pvt plt departed on a moonless night for a VFR flt. Route of flt was over a desert like environment where there are no visual cues for attitude reference. Acft wreckage was found the following day. Acft impacted tundra inverted at a high rate of speed. Plt's flight logbook indicated a ttl of less than 2 hrs night flt time.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8445F
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-181
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-82900028
- Airframe hours
- 534
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4M, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Linquist Acft And Equipment
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 22, 1984 · 53 hours before
- Departed
- OGD · Ogden, UT
- Destination
- ENV · Vendover, UT
- Flight plan
- VFR
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 28
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 44 total · 4 in this make and model · 203 as pilot in command · 11 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 20° at 3 knots
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 66 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SLC, 60 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.