- Date
- October 31, 1982, 05:05 local (11:05 UTC)
- Place
- Baton Rouge, LA
- Injuries
- 3 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N41045Piper PA-31-350
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report October 31, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19821031055859A
- Case key
- 69892
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 aircraft crashed and burned shortly after taking off in darkness on an IFR flight plan. The weather was reported as indefinite ceiling, zero obscuration, visibility 1/4 mi with fog, wind 120 deg at 5 KTS. A number of witnesses heard the aircraft, both before and after takeoff. The consensus of their statements indicated that one engine lost power while the other continued running at a high power setting. An investigation revealed that an intense postcrash fire had consumed most of the aircraft. There was evidence that the plane had crashed in a steep nose down, right wing low attitude and did not move after impact. The right propeller was found in a feathered position. The left propeller blades were curled and twisted. Both engines were disassemble, but no evidence of a mechanical failure was found. The gear and flaps were retracted and the cowl flaps were closed.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N41045
- Reported as
- Piper PA-31-350
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31-825020
- Airframe hours
- 290
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-J2BD, 350 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Moore Data Systems, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Moore Data Systems, Inc.
- Departed
- BTR · Baton Rouge, LA
- Destination
- C · Charleston, WY
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- BTR · Ryan Airport, runway 4, 6,900 × 150 ft, concrete
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
- 41
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 1,784 total · 336 in this make and model · 1,605 as pilot in command · 125 in the last 90 days · 53 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 120° at 7 knots
- Temperature
- 153 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BTR
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 N41045 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.