- Date
- September 3, 1988, 23:48 local (Sep 4, 1988, 04:48 UTC)
- Place
- Carthage, TX
- Injuries
- 5 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N83874Piper PA-34-220T
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed · report November 28, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880903036789A
- Case key
- 22562
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
Drg a night arrival, the plt rprtd he could make a visual apch. At 2341:37 CDT, the ARTCC controller informed him the destn arpt was straight ahead at 12 mi & requested that he rprt when the arpt was in sight. At 2343:30, he rprtd the rwyin sight & the controller cleared him for a visual apch. The final portions of the flt were below the alt for radar coverage. Subsequently, the acft crashed in a wooded area, at a location & on a heading that would approximate a left base leg for rwy 35. However, initial impact was with trees while in a steep right bank. No preimpact part failure or malfunction was found drg the investigation. Although official rprts from wx stations in the area showed the wx was above VFR minimums, personnel in the area of the acdnt site rprtd the sky condition was obscured with fog.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N83874
- Reported as
- Piper PA-34-220T
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 34-8133096
- Airframe hours
- 988
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-360-KB, 220 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Don Griffith Construction, Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 1, 1988 · 6 hours before
- Departed
- STF · Starkville, MS
- Destination
- 4F2
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- 4F2 · Panola County-Sharpe, runway 35, 3,200 × 50 ft, asphalt
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
- 62
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 12,000 total · 50 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/bright
- Temperature
- 73 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.