- Date
- September 2, 1983, 22:34 local (Sep 3, 1983, 03:34 UTC)
- Place
- Huffman, TX
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N5551YPiper PA-23-250
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830902045709A
- Case key
- 20760
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 acft collided with the ground in a high speed dive and totally disintegrated. Impact created a 7' crater and material blew out for 100 yards. The engines were recovered at the 14 ft level in the crater. The acft took off at 2215 from baytown TX. At 2334 radar and radio contact was lost. At no time did the plt indicate that he was having any difficulties. As radar contact was lost the return went into coast mode for 8 sweeps or 38 seconds. One thing that can trigger the coast mode is a rapid rate of descent in excess of 500 ft/minute. On 8/1/83 the plt owner experienced a total electrical failure in this acft while enroute from California to dallas, TX. The battery cables were found corroded and loose. These were cleaned and tightened and no further record of electrical maintenance was noted. After the accident the tail light bulb was sent to the NTSB lab for analysis as to its illumination at impact. There findings indicate the bulb was not illuminated at impact. There are no provisions for an emergency lighting system in this acft.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5551Y
- Reported as
- Piper PA-23-250
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 27-2652
- Airframe hours
- 2,886
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540, 250 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Larry O. Gray
- Registered owner
- Lake Tahoe Aviation, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 21, 1983 · 20 hours before
- Departed
- HPY · Baytown, TX
- Destination
- F46 · Rockwall, TX
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
- 43
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Expired
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 467 total · 20 in this make and model · 20 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 73 °F
- Observed at
- IAH, 15 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.
Other investigations on N5551Y · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.