- Date
- March 7, 2012, 00:45 local (05:45 UTC)
- Place
- Atlanta, GA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N4083YPiper PA-31-350
- Defining event
- Enroute-cruise: Birdstrike
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report September 13, 2012
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA Atlanta FSDO
- FAA report
- 20120307002629A
- Case key
- 83083
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
An in-flight collision with birds during cruise flight.
Findings · 1
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The airplane was in cruise flight at 6,000 feet mean sea level when birds hit the top center section of the windscreen, shattered it, and entered the cockpit. The pilot declared an emergency and requested an instrument flight rules clearance back to his departure airport. The clearance was approved, and the airplane arrived at the departure airport without further incident. Examination of the airplane revealed that the vertical stabilizer received substantial damage.
Factual narrative
The airplane was in cruise flight at 6,000 feet above ground level when the windscreen was shattered by birds. The birds hit the top center section of the windscreen and entered the cockpit. The pilot declared an emergency with Air Traffic Control and requested an IFR clearance back to his departure airport. The clearance was approved. The pilot was not injured and the airplane arrived at the departure airport without further incident. Examination of the airplane revealed the airplane sustained substantial damage. The vertical stabilizer received structural damage and had to be replaced.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4083Y
- Reported as
- Piper PA-31-350
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31-8152100
- Airframe hours
- 18,525
- Engines
- Lycoming TI0-540 SER, 310 horsepower, reciprocatingLycoming TI0-540 -J2B, 350 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Executive/Corporate · Part 91
- Operator
- Laboratory Corp Of America Holdings
- Registered owner
- Laboratory Corp Of America Holdings
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · February 7, 2012 · 73 hours before
- Departed
- PDK · Atlanta, GA
- Destination
- BHM · Birmingham, AL
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- PDK · Dekalb Peachtree Airport
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
- 52
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- November 11, 2011
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 10,225 total · 5,625 in this make and model · 7,900 as pilot in command · 280 in the last 90 days · 90 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 100° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.52 inHg
- Observed at
- PDK
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 10, 2012, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.8 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.