- Date
- May 20, 1986, 19:45 local (May 21, 1986, 00:45 UTC)
- Place
- Rio Hondo, TX
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N717WLPiper PA-23-250
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19860520021069A
- Case key
- 22027
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 right eng failed during cruise flt and the plt was unsuccessful in his attempt to restart the eng. The acft was unable to maintain alt and impacted the ground resulting in substantial damage to the acft. Although there was no evidence of any malfunction/failure which would have resulted in the eng failure, however, low compression was found on three of the cylinders and the magnetos were out of timing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N717WL
- Reported as
- Piper PA-23-250
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 27-2513
- Airframe hours
- 4,998
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-C4B5, 250 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Buddy Mattix
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 11, 1985 · 137 hours before
- Departed
- Brownsville, 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
- 36
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 7,500 total · 606 in this make and model · 7,500 as pilot in command · 310 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 305° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 59 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BRO, 30 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.