- Date
- August 29, 1983, 21:30 local (Aug 30, 1983, 02:30 UTC)
- Place
- Buffalo, OK
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N9762WPiper PA-28-140
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 21022
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 hit the ground while trying to stay VFR under low ceilings at night. The student plt was returning from a x-country, for which he had no briefing on the weather, when the weather became worse. The student plt circumnavigated some of the thunderstorms but continued to fly lower. He said a downdraft forced him into the ground in a wheatfield. The acft cartwheeled and was destroyed. The plt crawled over a mile from the wreckage where he was found seriously injured 3 days later.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9762W
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-140
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-23246
- Airframe hours
- 2,900
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2A, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Eldred M. Harmon
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 1, 1982
- Departed
- Q65 · Raton, NM
- Destination
- 3K1 · Alva, OK
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
- 60
- Certificate
- Student
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 1, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,500 total · 1,500 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 30° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GAG, 35 nm away